Where Did All the Wheatfields Go?
by webdlfan
Summary: When Lindsay is called back to Montana to deal with an old case, Danny gets to go with her-and learn more than he ever wanted to know about the wild side of Montana.
1. Chapter 1: Special Powers

_So, I'm waiting on Cost of Living to re-air this week so I can work on Marshal (I refuse to watch it online—it could be my least favorite ep of the season, and I'm a history teacher. I loved Grounds for Deception, BTW). Anyway, I have a few things in the works, but I think this one is the one that will take the least mental power as there is room for plenty of cheese. :) I have, however, done a little research on Lindsay's possible position in Montana when she was there before._

_The title will make more sense in later chapters.  
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_Disclaimer: As always I do not own any of the characters, but since in reality the real writers left them on the floor of a bar all summer long (thanks for the ironic wording Laurzz), something must be done to give them some mental power and exercise __for the next few months.  
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Chapter 1: Mac

"Mac," Lindsay stepped into his office. "You wanted to see me?"

Mac remained seated, leaned back in his chair, templed his fingers together. As he studied her, he raised an eyebrow.

"What?" she attempted a smile, worried at her boss's scrutiny.

He simply shook his head. "I knew when I hired you I was getting a good forensic scientist. You've proved that over the years. So I'm not sure why this surprises me."

The worry began to churn in her stomach. "Mac … did I do something?"

"Yeah," he chuckled as he leaned forward. "Apparently, you left Montana."

He picked up a stack of papers, shuffled through them, then passed them over. "U.S Attorney for Montana went straight through to the US Attorney here, who went straight to Chief Sinclair. Jumped a few hoops, pushed a number of buttons and people around. Said they need you to come back for a few days, help with a case."

Lindsay frowned over it as she flipped through the papers, noted her familiar handwriting and notes, even a pretty good sketch of the crime scene as it had been then. Mountain terrain that would have somewhat changed. She groaned. "Mac—this was close to eight years ago. One of my first cases. Send the newbie out into the wild to do what no one else wants to do—sound familiar?"

Mac smiled at her as he shrugged. "You must have done a good job for them to want you to come out there."

"Just to do what they don't want to do?"

"Or _can't_, Lindsay. They need your eyes. You've got a good pair of them on you. I don't disagree. I know this case. You did a great job—so I know why they want you there. I just don't like not having one of my field agents because someone else needs them when I do."

She studied her own notes that had been faxed through from Montana. "What do they want me to do?"

"Apparently—hike up into the Rocky Mountains and find a crime scene. The guy you helped put in prison has stepped forward and admitted to committing a few more murders. He's given them the location of the bodies in relationship to—"

"An eight year old crime scene." Lindsay studied him as her mind raced through this new information. "Mac—I've got a three months old baby. A husband. They know that. I can't just … take off."

"Lindsay—you can try telling it to Sinclair, but even I couldn't break through his decision. I need you here."

"And you're going to tell me you need Danny, too."

"I—"

"Come on Mac—you think Danny's going to want to stay away from Lucy? And I can't leave her while I bounce off to Montana for a few days."

"Lindsay, right now this lab—"

"Would be fine, for a few days. _Please_ Mac. If I'm going to have to go back to Montana, I need to take Danny with me. My parents are going to think he's avoiding them. Make a deal with the US Attorney that needs me so much."

"Don't use those brown eyes on me."

"Why?" Lindsay blinked innocently. "Does it work?"

When he smiled and shook his head, Lindsay laughed. "Does that mean we get to go as a family?"

"Go—tell him. Before I change my mind."

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So, I know. This story line has been done before. Mac having to send Lindsay out to Montana. But it's not the plot that has me writing this. It's the story behind or in front that's there in Montana about Lindsay and Danny that's waiting … and what she has to do when she gets there or what she did when she was there … hard to project here. Or and what Danny has to do when he gets there. It's a D/L/L story, after all. All in good fun. Not currently planning to maim or kidnap, shoot or decapitate anyone. Might give someone some blisters. But all of that could change. Except the blisters. I think I'll keep those in. :p


	2. Chapter 2: The Dance

_Wow. I have to say WOW. I don't think I've ever gotten so many reviews or alerts in one swipe before. Thank you so very much. I think I got everyone of the reviews, but if I missed you … I really appreciate it all. And hey, it worked. Inspiration pushed me to get this chapter together sooner rather than later (and a chapter nearly 3 times the size of the first). You guys are great. _

_So … what's up next? What do you get when you mix unexpected plans, newlyweds, happiness and fear and toss it into a story? Well, maybe something like this …_

_Once again, none of the below have anything to do with my reality. Meaning, I'm just borrowing, don't own.  
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Chapter 2: The Dance

It wasn't so easy for Lindsay to get away from the lab. She had to go over several cases with Stella and Hawkes, call the DA about a few trials that were not yet on the docket, and talk with the US Attorney's office to deal with the travel arrangements.

Still, she wanted to tell Danny the news in person and that meant getting home before he came in to work.

_Danny_...

On the way home she pushed the future conversation aside and compiled a few lists in her head of who she wanted Danny to meet and what she wanted Danny to see. Time was limited, and most of it would be utilized by the state of Montana. Her mind was full of half-finished plans when she finally walked in the door.

Danny came in from the bedroom, concerned at her early appearance. "Everything a'ite?" he asked as he leaned in for a kiss.

She let it linger for a little bit longer, let it grow full and bright inside, then smiled as she stepped back.

"Ahh—yeah. Everything's fine," she lifted the strap of her messenger bag over her head and set it by the door. "Lucy?"

"Fine. We played hard this morning, she's sleeping it off."

That made her grin. She could see him so clearly—walking around the apartment in sweats and a wife beater, Lucy in his arms; he might slowly dance or tell her about his night on the job. And there were always the comic books. On days she had off she loved to simply sit and watch him be a daddy.

As Lindsay started to step around him as she headed for Lucy, he grabbed her hand and pulled her back. In his other hand, he held up two airline jackets, fanned out. "A messenger dropped these off a half hour ago."

Oh. _Darn-it._ She hadn't yet decided the best way to tell him. "Man, they're fast when they want to be."

"Care to explain why you and Lucy are leaving me and going to Montana tonight?"

"There's a case I worked, a scene in the mountains. They need me to come back and find it so—"

"Just like that?"

"Seems so. The US Attorney said—"

"Couldn't they have used you when you were in Montana before?" He grabbed her hand, drew her back toward him, into him. "You just got back."

Lindsay laughed. His voice held an almost boyish tone that only deepened his Staten Island accent. His arms surrounded her as he nuzzled her neck, greedy, needy.

But she loved it.

For a moment, she simply lost attention of the conversation, of the situation, and everything in between. Suddenly, they were in their own little world, without work, without worry. Married. She was married to Danny and he was all she'd ever wanted and more.

"Danny …" she said his name on a sigh.

"What am I supposed to do without my girls _this_ time?"

_Oh …_ it took her a minute to get back in the moment. She leaned back and grinned up at him, "Go with us?"

"_Right_," he said in that oh so New-York-rumble.

"Seriously."

"Two tickets, _Montana_."

"That's right. Two tickets—_Messer_. Lucy's a baby. She's small. She doesn't get her own seat."

"So the second ticket," he opened the jacket, looked down at what must have been his name, "is for me."

"That's right. Paid for by the great state of Montana or … the US government. Anyway, it works. You get to go, help out and my family finally gets to meet you," it hit her then, the giddiness. She wrapped her fingers around each of his wrists and pushed up for another quick kiss. She knew he was reluctant, but she didn't know how to tell him not to feel that way.

At least so that he would believe her.

"Danny. They finally get to meet you."

"_They_ did meet me."

"That was before—it's entirely different. Everyone's asked about you," she let out a breath. Thinking of her family and all she wanted him to do during their short stay had her mind spinning if a thousand different directions.

"Anyway, there's nothing to do about it now except pack."

She gave his wrist a squeeze, and with a renewed sense of excitement and energy, spun around and headed toward their bedroom.

He watched her go, hesitated. "That's what I'm afraid of."

"Packing?"

"No," he said as he followed more slowly. "That it's different."

Lindsay barely glanced at him as she tugged her suitcase from the closet, toss it on the bed. "They love you already, Danny. They were really impressed that you came to Montana for me, and they love you for this last time, for calling and for the little things you sent, and for … things you said that made me smile while I was there. Mama loved your voice when she spoke to you on the phone and Daddy …"

"Yeah?"

"Well, he hasn't met you yet, but mama says he loves the pictures I send of you with Lucy." Lindsay was sure her father would fall for Danny as well. "And he loves being a grandpa. When he sees her—oh! I haven't even called my mom and told her I'm coming. She's going to flip out."

"Lindsay—" he hesitated, wished that he could practice the words. "I can't go."

She seemed to ignore him as she moved onto a drawer, pulled out clothes for him, then opened the next one. "What do you mean you can't go?"

"Mac—"

"Mac's already approved it. Chief Sinclair approved it. This won't take more than a few days."

"Do you really think that's fair? To Hawkes, or Stella, or Adam? Or Mac even?"

"Do you really think its fair for me to show up at my parent's house again with a wedding band and a baby and no husband? Again?" She finally looked at him, stared at him with the brown eyes that had worked so effectively on Mac, but this time instead of pleading, she looked at him pointedly.

Danny opened his mouth to respond, but there was really nothing he could say.

"Eventually, the family's open hearted spirit will run out if you never ever show up," she stepped over, pressed some of his t-shirts into his hands and nodded toward the suitcase. "Besides, you know Kale Fisher from Mitch Donovan's team. He's getting married soon and wanted to pick up some overtime, so he's covering for us."

"Kale drives Hawkes nuts."

"It will just ensure we have jobs when we get back," she stepped back from her closet with several shirts and tossed them on to the bed. "Get your stuff packed. I need to go round up what we need for Lucy to see how much room I have left."

"Lindsay."

She stopped, turned around, finally looked at him. He was petrified. Her man—her strong, brave, NYC man was scared.

"Danny—" she said softly, and took a step back toward him.

"Why am I going? It's more than seeing your family."

"Because they need me there," she stopped in front of him and placed a gentle finger on his chin, left it there. "And Lucy and I need you."

For a moment he just stared at her, so very still. Finally, a smile—ever so slight—broke through. "You're so very hard to resist, you know."

"I've heard."

"_Linds,_" He leaned his forehead against hers, slowly breathed her in. "I'm glad the other ticket was for me. I couldn't stay behind without both of you. I need you, too."

And for that, for him, Lindsay gave into the need for another kiss.

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_So … for those of you who wanted a great Danny reaction, what'd you think? :p Up next … Lucy … what's up with our favorite baby girl?_


	3. Chapter 3: Disturbance

_Hmm. I don't know what to say about this chapter except its not what I intended to write. More at the bottom. :)_

_As always, I own nothing ... not the characters, not the airports, not even a plane ticket to anywhere._

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Chapter 3:

Lucy managed well until the first connection brought them to Milwaukee. She delighted the people around her on the flight. The lady across the aisle even remarked that she'd never seen a baby handle a flight so well--which may have been a warning for what was to come.

It all started as they rushed across the airport with the baby bag, baby carrier, and single carry on and barely caught their flight to Denver.

The excitement and timing didn't sit well with Lucy. It was late, edging toward eight o'clock in New York when she was normally fast asleep. Lindsay--and sometimes Danny--would have already rocked her, sung to her softly, whispered until the infant succumbed to slumber.

But tonight, Lucy was on the move, surrounded by sights and sounds and people that kept her awake.

Lindsay followed Danny down the aisle of the overbooked flight, with Lucy cradled protectively against her. Either side was crowded with rows of people already seated. Danny stopped where there was a single seat by a girl, somewhere in her college years, earphones plugged in and lost in her music. She didn't even look up as he sat the baby bag down in the empty seat.

Lindsay sighed and leaned her head against Lucy's. She hadn't noticed it on the ticket, but their seats were separate on this flight. They couldn't easily tag team their fussy three month old.

And it didn't get any better.

Lucy got agitated when Lindsay strapped in and took her from Danny. She spit out her pacifier and wouldn't take it back. As they took off, she seemed to get more and more agitated--not yet crying, but not at all happy.

From the moment the seat belt sign flipped off, Danny was up in the isle, pacing with Lucy and talking to her in his low, Staten Island rumble. As much as it charmed the college girl—who perked up when she heard it enough to mention it to Lindsay—Lucy didn't seemed impressed. She didn't—wouldn't sleep. She refused a bottle, still refused her pacifier.

And wouldn't let Danny sit down until he was forced to do so as the plane reached Denver.

When the cabin pressure changed as the plane descended for landing, Lucy—normally such a happy baby—let out a surprising wail.

Lindsay was holding her at that point. She settled Lucy's warm forehead against her neck on her shoulder and gently rubbed her baby's back, whispered words of comfort. The lady across the isle looked on with sympathy and the man behind her grumbled again about parents and babies.

As if he'd never been a baby himself.

The college girl sat stoically, watching the plane descend.

And Lindsay wallowed in guilt.

_She couldn't do what she needed to do for her daughter—and she'd been the one with the grand idea to bring them along. What had she been thinking? _

.ny.

"A'ite," Danny finished up with the stewardess and came over just as Lindsay lifted Lucy back out of her carrier. "I have good news and I have bad news."

Lindsay barely glanced at him as she focused on Lucy. "She won't let me put her down, Danny."

"Here, let me see her," Danny said.

"You can do better?" Lindsay winced at the tone of her voice. "Sorry—this wasn't so difficult when I saw it all happening in my head."

Danny snorted as he reached down and adjusted the elongated handle of the suitcase. "How were we supposed to know our normally happy Lucy would flip out over a plane ride, or ah … rides."

"Shouldn't we of?" She lifted their one bag they had not checked and set it in the stroller with the baby bag, as Lucy wasn't planning to use it. "Late at night, new experiences, new places, new people, half the time getting pushed out of the way and all of it happening in a whirlwind. It was selfish of me to bring her—to bring you both. All I could think of was how it was so perfect. That my family in Montana would get to meet you both. I should have just come alone."

"And I would have been on the next plane following you out there, doing this all on my own," he reached out, lifted her chin with his finger and waited until her brown eyes—carrying the weariness of the experience—met his. "You think Lucy and I would been happy without you? You think I could cope without you there for a week?"

"You would have done what you needed to do," Lindsay said, this time more matter of fact. Still, she was restless. "I suppose we should be grateful. When I went back for the trial, my plane went from New York to Atlanta to Dallas to Denver to Bozeman."

"Why?"

"It was the cheapest route—and I suppose I was avoiding things a little bit," as they started to walk in the direction of their flight, she looked over. "What was your route when you flew out?"

"Ahh … the lady rattled off something and I just said whatever gets me there the fastest."

Lindsay stopped for a minute, there in the Denver airport, and slid her arms around him. The tension she'd felt since Lucy had first started to cry, suddenly dissipated. This was why she had asked him to come. This was her family.

It was so different now with him than it had been back then, but she could still remember the moment she saw him walk through those courtroom doors. "Danny … have I told you that I love you?"

"Not since we left New York—which seems like ages ago."

"Well—I do. Very much."

At that, Lucy let out a little impatient squeal and kicked at her legs. Lindsay turned her head and looked over at her baby girl, and smiled, for a moment just resting her head on Danny's shoulder. "So what was the news?"

"Which you want first?"

"Get the bad over with."

"Flight to Bozeman was canceled. They're combining it with the ten o'clock."

"Great" she closed her eyes as she let out a frustrated breath; they wouldn't leave Denver until midnight _New York time._ And chances were their luggage would end up somewhere in Arizona. "And the good news?"

"Two things. Lucy gets a few hours of rest before she gets back on a plane and they said they would make sure we sit together this time."

Lindsay reached over and rubbed Lucy's back. Her sweet blue eyes fought sleep. Her little hand weakly held on to a piece of Danny's shirt as she lay her head on her daddy's shoulder and gently sucked on her pacifier. She watched her mother—and the plea in her eyes broke Lindsay's heart.

"Let's just find a quiet corner somewhere and see if we can help her feel settled.

.ny.

His only two trips out west in his life were carried through in exhaustion and worry. Danny watched Lucy refused the bottle again. He wasn't used to seeing her so unsettled.

The seats they found near their gate were crowded with people waiting for another flight that was ahead of theirs. It wasn't all that quiet, but it meant they wouldn't have to move if Lucy did fall asleep.

The seats were hard, the news on the airport television he'd already seen several times that day. He'd pulled out a magazine only to find that it was one of his comics. Even that didn't take his mind off the journey.

Lucy still refused to eat, whether from a bottle or Lindsay's attempt to nurse. It made them both uncomfortable. And while she did fall into an exhausted sleep, she awoke any time they attempted to settle her into her carrier.

Danny walked around with her first, then when he started to lower her into her temporary bed—and she started to squirm—Lindsay took her turn.

No one was really getting any rest.

Danny watched his girls. He was worn-out himself and he'd only been up since right before noon. The three of them were going to arrive in Montana dead to the world.

What a great way to meet the family. _See how I take care of them?_ _See how they look when they bring me along._

Lindsay's father wasn't necessarily a big man, but then neither was Danny. Still, his frame was rough around the edges and built strong. Marcus Monroe worked the ranch all of his life. Their meeting was brief, at the courthouse, but Danny had sensed a strong protective streak. He was worried about Lindsay, saddened by the replay of events, and worried over the stranger that had flown out from New York to support his daughter.

Danny had known that even then.

Lindsay had his eyes. The emotion was there. So when he sat back and watched, you knew that though he was quiet, he was thinking things through thoroughly.

Her mother lacked the shine that shimmered on a New York girl, but was still stunning. Even in the few minutes they talked, he saw that Lindsay had gotten her sense of humor from her mother. He'd thought that he would get there and find that there was tension between the two, but instead found that any feelings he'd registered from Lindsay about mothers didn't come from her relationship with her mother. Kathleen Monroe simply embraced her daughter, life and opened her arms immediately to Danny.

It was perplexing to be there between the parents Monroe.

Still, it was different now. He wasn't showing up in Montana on some crazy whim to support Lindsay. He was showing up as the husband and father … who'd done things in the wrong order from the start. And if it were Lucy … he might think the guy had stayed away on purpose. That he was hiding something. That there were dark parts in his past.

And there was …

He felt fingers on his brow and he looked over at his wife. "You're worrying."

"You're supposed to be sleeping," he said as softly as she.

"I'm too wired to sleep."

He managed a quiet chuckle. "I guess we know where she gets it from."

"And she doesn't get it from you?" Lindsay smiled and moved just enough to press her lips to his. "It's going to be okay, Danny."

He smiled, for her, even though he was doubtful. He could tell from her eyes, she believed it.

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_So there you go! I really intended to get them to Montana, but that layover changed everything. It seems Danny and Lindsay are still waiting to get to Montana._

_I hope you don't hate me! Angst just creeped in and from such an unexpected source! Lucy is such a sweet sweet baby, I know, but when I looked up the plane route, all I could think was ... poor Lucy! Maybe the government would have forked over the money for New York to Denver, but I doubt it. And it was such a quick request! Still, an image popped into my head of them arriving in Montana exhausted and not at their best because it was such a long, long flight. And Lucy's so little, and she doesn't understand why its all changing. Poor Lucy!_

_Poor Danny! :)_

_More of that to come.  
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	4. Chapter 4: Venture

_It just occurred to me as I post Chapter 4 that I may not have responded to the reviews for chapter 3. If I haven't, I'm so sorry!!! Please know that I am totally humbled and thrilled by the amazing response to this story, and thank you for your response, favorites, and alerts!! I still can't believe it. I'll try to get to the reviews to check soon ..._

_I have to dedicate this to hickyroo who gave me the first line of this chapter in her review. And to Laurzz who is hopefully enjoying her own plane ride and adventure and will have to land herself/return before she can read this. Hope you're having a blast!_

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Chapter 4.

He was going to have to think of this as an adventure. He'd been through a number of them. Admittedly, he hadn't thought of them as adventures at the time. He hadn't been one to think things through period. Lindsay … now Lindsay loved a good adventure, but she planned them. He ended up stuck out in the East River with Louie until the Coast Guard rescued them.

He ended up getting shot at while he hid behind and cabinet.

Sure, it _looked_ good in the movies.

Had he even thought joining the police force would be an adventure?

No … that had just seemed right. And following Mac when he'd asked him to come aboard? That had seemed right as well. He hadn't really thought about it.

So how was he supposed to be happy when he took the time to think of this as an adventure? Why was that going to make it all seem better?

Lindsay set her fingertips on his. "You're going to have to undo this seatbelt sometime."

He'd been scowling, and his face was still tense because of it. He let out a breath—a half laugh—as tried to relax. Lindsay, who was sitting on the inside, by the window, curled her fingers around his. Lucy was awake again. She had given up fighting finally, and simply wearily rested her head on Lindsay's shoulder as she watched him.

Both his girls were just waiting on him. This, he thought … this life he had with Lindsay. Maybe that could be his adventure.

Then occurred to him than that the plane was emptying.

He turned his hand over, grasped hers and pushed the tension aside. He wasn't a coward. "Ready, babe?"

Though they were both exhausted, and a little unsettled because of the entire experience with Lucy, it was as if the clouds had moved away from in between them. Lindsay's smile lit up her face like sunshine breaking through.

"My family's going to love you Danny."

"Let's take another leap," he undid his seatbelt and stood up, pulling the baby bag and the carry-on down from the overhead container.

Then, looking at their things, he reached out for Lucy, "Let me take her."

"I got her."

He grinned a little. "Lucy and I got to hang together in this. New people, new experience," he pressed a kiss to Lucy's cheek as Lindsay passed her over. "This new stuff is unsettling isn't it?" he asked his daughter in all seriousness.

Lucy simply lay her head on his shoulder and blinked her eyes up at him.

He slipped the baby bag over his shoulder and tugged up the pull handle on the suitcase.

"Danny, let me take that—" Lindsay held out her hand.

"I got it. You've got to get the carrier."

With a knowing look, she simply let it go and turned in the isle just as the last passenger disappeared out the door. Danny followed slowly, watching her as she accepted the carrier from the stewardess and thanked her for her kindness over Lucy. Then, she two disappeared out the door.

"I hope you enjoy your stay," the stewardess said as he reached the front. She smiled at Lucy. "Poor thing. You tell your parents to let you get some sleep."

A laugh escaped him, like a short bark. "We're going to try. I promise."

And then it was his turn to turn and exit the plane.

He'd done it before, that time all alone, when he arrived in Montana. It still took him off guard, the arrival at the airport. He looked out, into the brightly lit parking lot for planes, and then down the retractable steps. He pushed down the handle on the suitcase, dipped down, and lifted the case, his arm firm around Lucy.

"Here we go, sweetie," he murmured. As he descended, he didn't feel like wondered if Lindsay's family was watching, what they were thinking. Then he looked up, saw Lindsay waiting at the bottom, her hair lifted around her face as the gentle breeze moved around them.

She held out her hand when he got there. "Let me take that," she said of the suitcase. She took it from him, and it quick, almost practiced movement, extended the handle and drew it through the carrier so her other hard was free. Then she caught his hand in his with her free one. "We'll do this together."

.ny.

It wasn't like the old movies where people waited on the tarmac, watching for passengers. Holding onto his hand, Lindsay walked with Danny the night and followed the rest of the passengers through the double glass doors.

There her mother and father were waiting. She knew Danny saw a big man, though it wasn't his height that made him seem so. What she saw was the best man she had ever known in her life—until Danny. The stoic expression meant nothing to her. He wasn't overly expressive. But she knew what he felt. That's what mattered.

Her mother had aged, maybe a little more than her years, the dryness of the weather and cold of the winter were hard on the skin. She looked a little like Linda Carter, with her hair pulled back at her nape. Her face broke out in a grin, so similar to Lindsay's, and the years seemed to melt away.

"So this is Lucy," she said, all but ignoring her daughter and new son-in-law. She reached out, held out her hands for her grandchild. "Aren't you a tired one?"

Lindsay laughed a little as Lucy let out the beginnings of a lusty cry before her grandmother retreated, and placed her back in Danny's arms. "She's had a long day, mom. She hasn't let either of us put her down since we left New York."

"Poor thing," Joanne Monroe ran a gentle finger along Lucy's cheek. Lucy, for her part, settled down and watched her with tired blue eyes, one little hand curled around part of Danny's sleeve. "You're such a daddy's girl aren't you?"

Then Joanne looked at Danny and pushed up just enough that she could kiss his cheek as she pulled him in for a hug. "Welcome back to Montana, Danny," she said, her cheek against his. "I'm so glad you could make it."

"Thank you, Mrs. Monroe."

"I told you before. _Joanne_."

Her father's expression remained unchanged as he simply waited. Lindsay stepped over to him and was immediately pulled into a big hug. "Rough flight?" her father asked once she was tucked against him.

She looked up at him, into his knowing eyes, then over at Lucy. Her mother was running a gentle hand over Lucy's hair, leaning close to speak softly. Lucy's eyes had started to droop. "Long. We really need to get Lucy settled."

"Then we'll get going. Joanne," he stepped over, stood in front of Danny. For a moment, there was awkwardness, as both men hesitated; worried, wondered—Lindsay wasn't exactly sure. She knew her father was not that easy around people, but he always did what needed to be done.

And Danny. She was suddenly taken back to the first day they met. _Danny Messer. How ya' doin?_

Confident, passionate, and a little bit wild. He hadn't cared what others thought. She'd fallen for him then.

_You can stand on your own, Danny …_ she wanted to remind him. _You don't have to worry about impressing anyone._

_That_—she believed—_would come naturally._

Danny held out a hand, made the first move. "Mr. Monroe. It's good to see you again."

"It's Ben," her father held out his hand and his thicker hand wrapping around Danny's longer fingers in a firm handshake. "Welcome back to Montana."

Lindsay let out a breath of relief, smiled, but she was a little suspicious—and she would have been right—that her father had not welcomed Danny in the way he wanted to welcome Danny.

So she wouldn't have been surprised to know that while she and her mother were trying to settle Lucy into the borrowed car seat that her father pulled Danny aside. Said what he really wanted to say, or _rather_, opened the door to say what he really wanted to say.

The lights that surrounded the airport did little to stand out against the wide open darkness of the Montana sky. There was an eerie quiet around them, even with a few cars pulling out and the voices of the women melting into the night air.

Ben shut the back gate on the old Bronco. His voice came out softened, deep and gruff as he looked his new son in law dead in the eye, and fully intended the apprehension he put there.

"We'll talk later."

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_Dun dun dun. :p_


	5. Chapter 5: The Morning After

_A quick update--the box is on and I wanted to get this on before I went to watch it. Of course, don't mind fast forwarding past the commercials or anything! Thank you DVRs._

_I wrote this before I wrote the second part of Carded, so the opening paragraph almost sounded the same. I tried to fix it, but in the end, I don't suppose it matters. This one came first anyway._

_And if you are wondering, I have notes on where this should go and there is a plan. I think :)_

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Chapter 5:

As Danny awoke, his listened to Lucy's cheerful babble coming over the speaker; tiny not quite squeaks and happy coos, sounds that simply harmonized with the early morning. He smiled a little, his eyes still closed. He had never thought that he would ever believe that such sounds would be music to his ears.

But slowly it occurred to him that the sounds weren't coming through the baby monitor. He opened his eyes to the sunlight streaming into the window of what had been Lindsay's childhood room. There were still tacked up posters of horses on the wall, a collections of ribbons pinned to a small cork board, bottle collections on her shelf, and books.

He rolled over and spied Lucy lying in the hand-carved crib that had been her father's, her brothers' and her own, and all of the grandchildren, save Lucy. It had been brought over from Lindsay's brother's house. Lucy lay on her back, batting her tiny hands back and forth, lost in her own little baby world.

He reached over to the nightstand and picked up his phone. It was nearing ten in the morning, New York time, eight Montana time. Kale would have covered his shift—he was more than capable, and in their single years they had lived it up, maybe a little too much, out on the town. Enter Lindsay ... Danny smiled a little. Hawkes would be in by now; Danny would have loved to see them moment he walked in, found Kale. Had it been at a crime scene, or the lab?

Whatever, or _whenever_, it would be nothing like his arrival in Montana. Kale didn't have it out for Hawkes. Didn't have a collection of shotguns and knives he used for recreation.

Danny set his phone down, thought about the last few hours.

When he'd traveled to Bozeman two years prior, he hadn't left Bozeman. So he hadn't been prepared for the fact that the Monroe ranch was a good hour and a half drive. He was thankful that Ben Monroe didn't drive the speed Lindsay claimed she did when out on the open Montana road.

Lucy cried for nearly thirty more minutes, before she'd finally fallen into an exhausted sleep. When they'd arrived at the house, Danny had looked across the seat at Lindsay, fully prepared to spend the night in the car with his daughter. Lindsay, exhausted herself, seemed to have the same thoughts, too. Stay or go. Wake Lucy? Or let her sleep on.

In the end, Joanne made the decision for them. With her help, they made it up to the room without waking Lucy.

Then they all slept.

His baby girl was smiling now.

He turned over as the door opened and watched as Lindsay came in. He liked the way the Montana sunlight looked on her.

"Morning," he murmured as he lay back against the pillow.

She smiled at him as she shut the door and came over to sit beside him on the edge of the bed. "Morning. Mom's got some breakfast left on the warmer for you."

"How long have you been up?" he asked, smiling a little as she ran a hand through his hair.

"We got up at four. Lucy was ready to eat."

"Finally."

"Yeah. We slept a little more, but mom had breakfast ready before six, and I've woken up for most of my life with those smells, so I went on down."

"You have a good time with your parents?" Her father would be gone by now, out to the land to work on … whatever he did out there.

"Yeah."

"What time are we going to have to leave?"

"I'm not sure. I'm still waiting for them to call me, let me know—of course, their offices are only just opening," she sighed, looked over at Lucy as she found her hand with his. "I'm not sure I'm ready to leave her, Danny."

"We leave her every time we go to work." He didn't question the fact that he was going with Lindsay. As much as he would love the time with Lucy, if staying with Lucy meant staying with the in-laws, he would rather follow his wife.

"Yeah, well be gone overnight this time. I really don't know if I can do it."

_Overnight_. He hadn't thought about that. He'd pulled a few doubles since Lucy was born, but Lindsay hadn't. "Why are we staying out there overnight? _Wait_. Out in the _woods_ overnight?"

Lifting a brow, Lindsay laughed. "You afraid to be out in the woods at night, _city-boy_?"

"You say that as if it's a bad thing."

She walked her fingers up his chest as she grinned at him. "Camping out in the mountains, drinking from the streams, preparing coffee over a fire—laying outside at night and looking up under the stars."

"I saw more stars last night than I've seen my entire life. I'm okay with that."

"You scared of the dark, _Messer?_"

Even as she grinned, he growled a little, pushed himself up and caught her in a kiss. For a moment they forgot about camping and the stars, forgot they were in Montana and shared a room with their daughter, and they just slid into the kiss. If had been so long since they'd had time to just … _be_.

He wrapped his fingers in her hair, tugged her closer—

Then Lucy let out a bright and happy cry, reminding them … of everything. Lindsay pulled away first, her arms still around Danny, and rested her forehead on his.

"You're a Messer too, you know," he murmured, her lips a breath from his own.

"I know," she leaned in for another kiss, a brief one, then slowly unwound herself. "I came up here to get you before time expires on your breakfast. I'm not sure I want my mother to come up to find me doing something _else._"

"I like _something else_."

"_I know_." She walked around the bed to the crib and smiled down at Lucy. Her fingers curled around the bars as she made cute little faces. Lucy cooed, or whatever it was that babies did, and giggled a little, stretching her arms. As he watched, Danny pushed himself up and leaned against the headboard to enjoy the show.

"Time for daddy to get up and join the rest of us, isn't it, baby?" she lowered the bar and leaned in to lift Lucy up. "He has to load his pack, tent, sleeping bag, pans, food, portable fishing rod, fish knife. Bug spray. First aid kit. Lions, tigers and bear traps. _Monster_ repellant …"

Now he knew she was jerking his chain.

"_Funny_," he murmured and finally pushed himself out of bed and grabbed his jeans to tug them on. "I can deal with monsters, by the way, _Montana_. We have those in New York."

He turned as he tugged on a t-shirt, watched as she held Lucy to her shoulder, bounced her a little and smiled when she saw him watching. Of course, he was fairly sure she'd been watching as he got dressed.

"Come on and get introduced to a ranch style breakfast."

"You don't have to ask me twice," barefoot, he followed her and waited as she opened the door.

Then she stopped, turned around to look at him. "By the way, you don't need a tent or a sleeping bag. We won't be in the mountains until in the morning, and unless we get lost, the only place we'll be spending the night is a hotel room."

He could take a hotel room.

But she was gone before it hit him what she'd said.

"Wait a minute," he said following her. "What do you mean lost? I thought we were called out here because you knew where we were supposed to be going."

.ny.

Downstairs, Joanna saw him out of the corner of her eye; she pointed at the long oak wooden table and told him to have a seat as she took Lucy from Lindsay.

"Look at that smile. You certainly take after your mamma. I remember that smile," she leaned forward and rubbed her nose against Lucy's. "You're glad not to be traveling aren't you?"

"We've never seen her like we saw her last night," Taking down a glass from the cabinet, she turned and looked at her mother. "I don't think she's ever cried that much in a day."

"All those strange people and big noises. But you're mamma grew into all that, apparently, so I suspect you'll do the same." Joanne glanced briefly at Danny. "Ben's already out for the day, but I know he would have loved to be here."

Danny didn't doubt it, even as he pondered Joanna's look. He wasn't sure what it meant. Then he noticed Lindsay's hand freeze on the door of the refrigerator as she glanced back at her mother as she rolled her eyes.

And it hit him. Ben would have loved for Danny to be up at dawn, not the other way around. He inwardly cursed himself. It was probably a strike against him that he wasn't up with the dawn with everyone else. He was just used to Lindsay getting up before him, or at least, that they got up at different times for different shifts. He hadn't let it wake him.

He glanced at the clock, it was already eight thirty. He would do better tomorrow—or _whenever—_he woke in the Monroe household again.

But he was not sorry the talk had been delayed. He wanted to get his feet underneath him before he faced Ben Monroe. He'd married Lindsay because he loved her. He loved her because she was Lindsay. That's all that mattered to him. For whatever reason, he'd lost his footing somewhere between New York and Montana.

He started to stand as Joanne uncovered the warmer with one hand, Lucy tucked against her with the other. "I can—"

"No, sit," she brow furrowed as she lifted the plate with a potholder, turned off the warmer.

Lindsay set a glass each of orange juice and milk in front of him, and walked around to set a hand on his shoulder. "No one touches mom's kitchen, Danny."

"Those aren't your rules," he looked at Lindsay, lifted a brow.

"Lindsay didn't learn her rules in my kitchen. If I let her in here, it was to do experiments."

Lindsay laughed, sat down in the chair next to him, and took his hand. "My brother, Mike, takes after mom. Between them we have the top two cooks in the county."

"It used to be the _state_ of Montana."

He thanked Lindsay's mom as she set a plate down for him.

"You're certainly welcome. Oh—" she turned to Lindsay as she pulled a chair for herself. "Mike's bringing over a pair of boots for Danny. He called around, found that Willie had a pair that would fit Danny. Willy liked to pull Lindsay's pigtails when she was younger."

"_Mom_," her voice was a firm warning. She licked her lips, looked at Danny. "Willie practically lived over here when he and Mike were in high school. He was a pain, but I guess I can be thankful you have his feet. Mom reminded me that you need a good pair of boots for the trails. Hiking boots. Mom suggested we get a pair that's already broken in," Lindsay explained.

"You're going to want to wear at least two pair of socks."

"And we'll take extra."

Lucy let out a sound, drawing their attention away from him. He listened as they talked back in forth, mostly about Lucy. There was such a natural flow there that it made him smile. Would this be what it was like between Linds and Lucy, when she was older? Would they have those awkward teenage spats where they didn't talk? He knew it hadn't always been like this between mother and daughter.

Pondering that, he reached for the glass of milk, and then detoured to the orange juice also set out for him. He was somewhat worried that the milk came from a cow not far from the side door. He just didn't know what that meant.

As he raised the glass to his lips the kitchen door opened. He looked over, the glass frozen in place. There, coming through the doorway, were Lindsay's three brothers. Larger in life than in there pictures.

And they were looking straight at Danny.

* * *

Ah-hem.

Dun dun dun ... :)

Can I just say, I'm so glad they're finally in Montana and we can get this party started. Off to watch the box now. :)


	6. Chapter 6: Family Meeting

_In the beginning, there was a vague idea that this would be easy and that it would be around six chapters long. Hmmm. Obviously, they're not to the mountains yet and all of the peoples keep popping up that Lindsay and Danny have to deal with. So maybe I'll just stop here. I did say six in the beginning. :p_

_Anyway, this was a bit challenging. I hadn't written the Monroe brothers into the first outline. They entered pretty early though. Then they were going to come in later. So much for planning. And as for the brothers, I just knew they were another element that Danny was going to have to deal with...._

_On with the show err ... story._

_But first, a word from the ah ... non-sponsor. I don't own the characters. Obviously. This is FF after all._

* * *

Chapter 6:

Lindsay rolled her eyes. Mike, her oldest brother, was flexing his fingers into a curl, down by his waist, as if preparing for a draw. She nearly laughed out loud. The only thing he'd ever drawn from his pocket all that fast was a pack of cigarettes.

Still, they stood there silent. Staring.

_Stupid._

Did they really think they were pulling off some sort of _High Noon _effect?

"You going to pay for the show?" she asked with exaggerated sweetness.

Mike looked over at her and grinned as he came around the table. "Well if it isn't _gopher_."

She grimaced, she couldn't help it. Casting a glance at Danny, she caught his look of surprise and laughter. She was going to kill Mike.

When he stopped and mussed her hair in a few deft strokes, she reached up and pushed him away.

"_Lindsey_," Joanne gave her daughter a stare that only made Lindsay want to roll her eyes all over again. "Mike—why don't you leave your sister alone and come look at your new niece."

"I knew there was a reason I came over here."

Despite the greeting, Lindsay grinned as she watched Mike lean over Lucy's carrier/stroller, turned baby high-chair, and leaned down to grin at his niece. Lucy stared up at him with her blue eyes, then batted his nose with her fist. Mike let out a bark of a laugh. "You got your mother in you, definitely."

"Good morning to the rest of you," Joanne looked at her other sons.

"Mornin' Ma," Jeff, her younger brother, wrapped a causal arm around his mother's shoulder and leaned from the other side of the table to study Lucy He held out a finger, grinned as Lucy grabbed on to it.

"Don't suppose you came in here at quarter to nine wanting breakfast," Joanne asked as Mike drew Lucy from her carrier. Lucy, for her part, chortled.

Steve snorted. "We ate hours ago." He made a point of looking down at Danny's plate.

"We got in late last night," Lindsay said and stood. She reached over and rested a hand on Danny's shoulder. "This, by the way, is Danny."

"We figured. Ma said you weren't going to be around for long," Jeff ignored her introduction.

She frowned at him, at all her brothers. They were being rude on purpose. Not that her own mother was being much help. "We're not sure. We're here on the tab of the State of Montana. Though you know how fast those things go sometimes."

"No kidding. You could be here through Christmas."

She smiled a little when she felt Danny stiffen beneath her hand. "I doubt that. But a few days, at least."

"Marley and Savannah are going to want pictures," Steve said of his wife and daughter. "You've been sendin' ma some on her computer. You think you could snap a few pics, send um our way?"

"You can't do that with your cell phone?"

"Lindsay, go get your camera."

She hesitated, her hand still on Danny's shoulder. Then she sighed. She knew exactly what her brothers were doing. And possibly her own mother. Getting her out of the picture.

Giving Danny's shoulder a squeeze, she hurried out. The faster to get the camera. The faster she would get back. How much damage could they do anyway?

"Go on _Gopher_. Do what you're told."

She did, but couldn't help the adolescent urge to mockingly repeat him under her breath.

.ny.

Danny supposed it could be worse.

He was rising across the open fields of the ranch in the back seat of an old Bronco. Mike, the oldest of Lindsay's brothers drove. Beside him was Jeff—the youngest. And in the back next to Danny was Steve, a rifle across his lap.

He was nearly sure the rifle was just for show.

What worried him was what Lindsay was going to do to him when she finally caught up to him.

In his defense, it had all happened fast. She'd left the room and they'd turned on him.

What was he supposed to do? Tell them he needed Lindsay's permission? He _did,_ but that wasn't something you said. He had no idea what the plans were or when he would be needed. He figured she knew her way around and could find him when she needed him.

Unless she left without him.

He was almost positive she wouldn't do that to him.

The Bronco pulled to a stop. The only thing to see in the open field was waves of grass and the long running length of a barbed wire fence.

The doors opened, the Monroe boys got out. Danny followed as the back gate opened. He shut the door, turned and watched as Jeff and Steve joined Mike to face him. He casually crossed his arms. He'd grown up with a brother, in a neighborhood of boys. He'd been in a number of what amounted to growing up and older initiation fights.

"You want to tell me what this is about, now?"

Mike laughed. "Kind of late to be asking that question, isn't it?"

"You're not going to drag me all the way out here to kill me."

Mike grinned. "You tell me."

Steve stepped forward, handed him some sort of old tool with long wooden handles and metal pieces too long and thin to be shovels that faced each other. He took it, looked at the tool, then at Steve.

.ny.

Lindsay came back in the room with her camera. She looked at the long table her mother had just cleared off, the empty seat where her husband had just been, and Lucy who was back in her carrier.

"Where's Danny?"

"Out with the boys."

"Out where?"

"Don't use that tone, Lindsay," Joanne scraped off what had been Danny's breakfast and set the plate in the sink. "What do you think they'll do to him?"

That was the problem. She didn't know.

"Honey," she turned away from the sink and looked on Lindsay as she wiped her hands off on a towel. "They weren't there the day that Danny came at the trial. They hadn't met him. Then there you were giddy in love and all serious over this New York boy none of them had met, and that we really didn't know. And whatever happened next, he hurt you, then…" she shrugged. "You were having a baby and you were married and you came home radiant. And they still hadn't met him. Give them their chance."

"To do what?"

"What they need to do. The love you."

Lindsay thought about the way Mike had simply embraced Lucy, even how he'd come to the house, while she was carrying her, and sat and talked to her belly just like Danny would do. Of course, he'd been telling childhood stories, warning Lucy about her mother. Still ... she stepped over to Lucy's carrier and looked down at her daughter, feeling the smile rise on her lips as she watched Lucy. Just watched her. She was so full of life, so lovely.

She knew her brothers loved her, and besides the occasional irritating action, they were calm, sensible men.

Different, but in many ways the same as her father.

"Mom …" she ran a finger along Lucy's palm, smiled as the tiny fingers closed around hers. Already she could tell the difference, how Lucy was growing by how her hand closed around her finger. "I didn't ask before. But did it hurt you that I wasn't here to … or that you weren't there when I got married? It all happened so fast."

Joanne held the towel between both of her hands. "Not hurt. And not so fast, I think. When you were a little girl, I expected the wedding frills and the big day. But time passed, a lot happened to …" she took a step, closed the distance between them, and set the towel down on the table. She lifted a hand to Lindsay's cheek, smiled a little whistfully. "To be honest, if you had gotten engaged, waited, wanted the big wedding, I don't think I would have believed it was real. Not for you. You were always your daddy's girl. Following in his steps. Watching him. Always simple. And in a way, losing the girls, made you more serious even as you made the choice to live. You gave up those little girlish dreams of knights and castles and cowboys. I thought for a long time you'd lost that part of yourself."

Lindsay felt the tears, blinked them back, and leaned into her mother's hand. Joanne, drew Lindsay into her arms.

"But you found them with Danny," she whispered as Lindsay held on. "And you didn't need the girlish dreams anymore."

.ny.

Danny followed their directions and fixed the fence post where it was broken, but he was pretty sure the rest of the time he was undoing and redoing what hadn't been broken in the first place.

"I guess we're about done," Mike said at last, coming over as Danny clipped off the barbed wire. He took it, and watched as Danny pulled off the thick gloves, rolled his shoulders back, then his neck.

"A little sore?"

Danny laughed, eyeing Mike. "Shouldn't I be?"

"Probably. Wasn't like we pulled out the machinery to do it. Always good to watch a man do the job the old fashioned way." He held up a hand and stopped Danny from walking back toward the Bronco. "The thing is, there are some things we wanted to say to you. Things I'll say."

"A'right."

Mike let out a breath, hesitated over the words. It took Danny back more than a year, to a moment in his office where Lindsay had sat across from him at her desk, and pushed aside the crap he'd been throwing her.

"I didn't like that Lindsay went to New York, but I don't think I ever expected her to stick around here. She was closed in, though she always said she was happy. When she got the job in Missoula, I thought she would find her place. Maybe I thought she had," he took off his Stetson, ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know."

He looked out over the land, lost in his own thoughts, in the past. There was sadness there. The remnants of worry.

Finally, he sighed. Seemed to shake himself. "Then she was in New York. It seemed ... it was like something opened in her. Not immediately. She was happy, and then trial came up, and she was silent … whatever it was, whatever happened between you two, it brought my sister back. She can be a little shy, a little nervous at first with people, but when she makes friends, she's a good one. But I don't think she really had that deep friendship again until you. The kind she had with the girls. She's found herself again in New York.

That's why I can shake it off. I know things went black between you two, I can't say you can ever expect them to be perfect. I've been married nearly 20 years, and I know that. I know it was a dark time for you. She said enough to tell us that. But when you asked her to marry you, when you married her, you became our responsibility. If you hurt her, I don't need your help to bury the body. She's already told us how to get away with it.

Danny let out a breath, a half laugh.

"'side's," Mike turned, looked back at his brothers, and shrugged. "It's not really us you're going to have to deal with. We may be burying your body for our father."

.ny.

Danny stood with Lindsay beside the borrowed truck. He'd put their bags in the back, behind the seats; stowed the food her mother was sending along. They had fresh water, some of the best fresh water Danny had ever tasted, in a cooler in the back.

Still, Lindsay hadn't moved. Her hand was on the door handle, a little bit of panic in her eyes. She took a deep breath, looked at him.

"I can't do this."

Danny looked back at to the porch where her mother held Lucy. Mike and Jeff leaned against the side of the house. Steve sat on the porch.

But it was Lucy he took a moment to study. His little girl, curled against her maternal grandmother, sucking the pacifier Flack's mother had given them. She didn't seem all that upset to watch them go. It broke his heart a little as well.

Finally, he lifted a hand, locked eyes with Joanne Monroe, and twirled his finger. Silently she nodded, turned and walked into the house, taking Lucy from view.

At the sound of the door shutting, Lindsay's head whipped around. "Danny."

"You're fine. Lucy's fine. Your mama's already spoiling her. She mama raised you, didn't she?"

"Yeah, and she also raised them," she let out an attempt at a laugh as she looked from one brother to the next.

Danny chuckled—he could, after spending most of the morning with them. "Then I think Lucy is in great hands."

Lindsay looked at him, up into his eyes. "Are you ever going to tell me what happened out there?"

"Not much. Helped with a little with the chores, I guess."

"You know I don't believe you." She ran a hand down his arm, linked her fingers with his, closed them tight—belying the attempt to lighten the mood. "You came home all dirty and sweaty."

"Hence the chores." He squeezed her fingers back, then moved his own in an attempt to loosen hers. "Something's you'll just have to trust me with."

She smiled a little, started to look back, then stopped. Turned to look at the door handle.

"You want me to drive?"

She flipped her wrist, opened the door, and flashed him a grin—a little forced, but a grin no less. "Are you kidding me? These are my roads, _Messer_."

As he shut the door behind her, and walked around the truck, he looked to the porch, locked eyes with Mike, and held his hand up in a parting wave as she started the truck.

He opened his own door, got in. "How fast are you planning to drive, _Messer_," he asked.

She laughed as she put the truck in gear. "Something's you'll just have to trust me with."

She was laughing as she picked up speed down the long dirt drive.

* * *

So... what do you think? Did anyone have--really have--an idea of how this would go down? I think what got me was that all in all, Danny understands males. He grew up with a brother. He probably dated a few of his friend's sisters. I actually had him thinking about when he talked to Flack--and Flack had only laughed at him when he mentioned him (I think Flack would love to think of Danny in that situation), but in the end, the POV was Lindsay's and I had to do a rewrite there. Still, if you want to know what Danny was thinking when the brothers came in, it was that moment with him and Flack. If anyone wants to take that story and run with it, be my guest. :) If not, maybe that will come about later.


	7. Chapter 7: Skyscrapers

_This chapter is dedicated to LilyMoonlight because she was the one that prompted me to head back to the lab so you could meet Kale. :) ... Hadn't intended to do that, but I love Kale--if you knew him from Danny's POV. Unfortunately, you get him through Hawkes ... BTW you're also getting a piece of Montana here ... so I hope you enjoy their road trip._

_

* * *

  
_

_Meanwhile … back at the lab._

Flipping through the case file, Hawkes walked into trace with his mind on murder. Triple homicide. Looked domestic. Two shots fired, three dead from gunshot wounds...

Then he froze. Stopped in his tracks. Felt the muscles on his arm tighten. It was all involuntary, and it took him a moment to realize the source.

He recognized the grainy sound of music played loud over earphones. _Nirvana_. Which meant …

He frowned, even as he looked up, knowing what he would see.

_Kale_. Lanky male, with long stringy red hair he pulled back in a skinny tail. He still dressed like Curt Cobain follower fifteen years later; flannels, jeans and slightly askew t-shirt. He was a genius in electronics and in robotic, so no one said a word. To him. The man had a doctorate, then turned around and entered the world of crime scene investigation.

Probably just to annoy him.

Hawkes snarled. He couldn't help it.

But he reined it in just as Kale looked up. The man was friendly enough. Had himself a fiancé, got along fine with Danny and Adam. There was just something so … off about him. They shared the lab every so often, as their shifts crossed, but for the most part, Hawkes was able to steer clear.

"Shell-dun," he said the name as if it were two. "Was wondering when you would get in."

"Early as always," he nearly winced. Something told him Kale had been waiting on him. "I've been down with Sid, going over a body."

"Yeah …" he let the word slid out, like he was on some sort of LSD trip or something. "Heard about that. Major wacko job. Mac wasn't so clear 'bout when you'd get here. I was going to head out, but he called me in, asked me to go overtime as you guys are short a couple of CSIs."

"Oh?" Hawkes frowned—he would have remembered if people were going to be away. "Something happen?"

"What? Danny didn't tell you himself?" Kale stuck one side of his ear piece back in and concentrated on the slacks he was detailing. "Monroe—or I guess you guys call her Messer now. Messer and Messer. Must get something like that scene from Fletch around here on some days. Messer. Messer. Messer-Messer. Messer."

"Kale—" Hawkes bit back the impatience. It didn't matter that Danny and Lindsay tended to play that scene from Fletch all on their own. Right now there was something more important for Kale to tell him. "What's wrong with Lindsay?"

"Lindsay? Nothing. She was just asked to come out and work a case she'd had when she was in Montana. Danny and that baby of theirs went along."

_No…and Danny didn't say a word. Coward_, Hawkes thought as Kale bent back over the slacks. He had both ear pieces in and was singing along to Nirvana. Again. As if there were no other songs on his IPod.

It was going to be a long day.

"Excuse me," Hawkes said, but Kale was wrapped up in his work and in his music. Soon he would start tapping out the drum beats like he did every time his hands weren't busy.

Then there was Kale at a crime scene. He would stumble over you, the body, snap a half dozen pictures of the same thing, on speed shot, so that there was a constant clashing of digitalize camera sound.

Hawkes stepped out, pulled out his blackberry. He had a call to make.

.ny.

_On the road again ..._

"So … _gopher?_?"

Lindsay lifted an eyebrow, but kept her eyes on the road. "Got a problem with that?"

"Not particularly. Just doesn't seem to fit _you_ though."

"You grow up the only girl with three brothers, smaller and a good deal younger than two of them… it's what you end up doing. Go get lunch, go take this to that. Where's this? _Go fer_ it then. At first you idolize them, then you realize you just don't fit into their world and all you are is … a _gofer_."

There was bitterness in her voice that surprised her. Quiet settled in the truck's cab. She let out a long sign, curled her fingers around the wheel.

"Is that why you left?" Danny's voice broke into the quiet.

"What? No …" she looked toward the mountains, studied their peaks. "By the time I moved to New York, we had a different relationship. But growing up, I was the girl, alone on this ranch all summer with no one to play with. The burr to their existence. During the school year, we lived with my Gram in Bozeman. So I had friends of my own and I had my own place, but … during the summer, it was the three of them and me. I made myself a nuisance at times, I think, just because I was so jealous that they had each other. It could get lonely on the ranch sometimes."

"So they made you the gofer to—"

"Get me out of their way," she shook her head and laughed at herself. The bitterness she'd let come out was simply an old, tired feeling. "My dad noticed, but in his mind, he did stuff with the boys and he did stuff with me. It was different. Maybe it needed to be different. Maybe he knew I needed it to be different. The less I spent with them, the more I spent in the house with my mom and with my books. Really my books. It was a way to escape, to open up the world for me. So he opened it further, grounded it, I guess."

"The buck knife, trips into the wilderness to fly fish, camping under the stars," Danny had heard the stories before.

"Yeah. Just the two of us, a lot. And sometimes with the family, never me and the boys without mom. Even on the family trips, there was always a sense that I was there to hang out with him. Just me and my dad."

With the road stretched out before her, she was taken back to the day her dad had handed her the keys and told her to drive. It was just the two of them, heading out on their own. She'd driven around the ranch for years now, and she wasn't yet old enough for her license. But some things didn't matter.

They'd laughed. They'd laughed so much and so hard. The sky had been so blue and the mountains stretched around them. The windows were up in the truck. It was late spring, and there was still a nip in the air. They'd played the classic country music that was her dad's favorite—Waylon, Williams, Cash and Loretta. He really loved Loretta Lynn.

Then, that year as the season unfolded again toward summer, it all changed. Shots fired—and she'd lost, even what she'd found in town … she shuddered.

Those had been her friends. That had been her world.

And suddenly, it was gone.

"Lindsay?"

She shook her head, pushed the memory back. It wasn't time to think of that. Not now.

"But my dad also bought me books. If he went somewhere, further than Bozeman, he'd always bring me books. And so would Marshall, and so would my mom. The world's so much bigger than the Monroe ranch. It got smaller after … everything happened. Montana got smaller."

There was that memory again. She felt his hand on hers. He rubbed it gently as hers stayed tight on the steering wheel. She paid attention to his hand to the way his fingers felt against her skin.

It brought her back, gave her what she needed to pack it away. She let out a breath.

"Did you have a book on New York City?"

She nodded. "My Uncle Freddie sent it to me. This big, coffee table book full of pictures and history and … all of the buildings and famous streets. Pictures of Broadway shows and famous, historical restaurants. And always people. You can't take a picture in New York without people getting in the way."

"My brothers didn't get it … and I didn't think they understood why I moved away," her brow wrinkled. "It had been a joke so long. If I had a book on …" she waved a hand absently, "the mountains, they'd say '_you gonna go fer a long trip now, Gofer, leave us to do all the work?_ I think that's why I hate the name so much."

"Maybe you should like it."

"Why?"

As his cell phone rang, Danny leaned to the side, unhooked it from his belt, but kept his eyes on Lindsay. "Because you did _gofer_ it."

He checked his phone, then laughed.

"What is it?" she asked. "Hawkes?"

"Yeah." He accepted the call, held it to his ear. "Hey Buddy, what's up?... No, everything's fine. Lindsay just got summoned to Montana … you know," he laughed, "you really should blame Lindsay. She—"

Lindsay pivoted her fist into his belly, listened as he let out a breath, then laughed. "Well, she did… I don't know why I'm to blame for it…. This obsession you have with Kale needs therapy …"

As Danny continued to dig himself deeper into trouble, Lindsay listened, and suddenly felt like she was home. Not in Montana, but with Danny, with Hawkes on the other end of the line, with their banter flowing so easy between them.

_Go ahead and tell him it's my fault_, she wanted to say. _Hawkes won't have it in for me …_

Then she winced. It depended, of course, how far Kale pushed him. Maybe she should give Kale a call, ask him to tone it down a bit for Hawkes.

In fact, she was pretty sure she was going to do that.

.ny.

There were wheat fields, and plain fields, stretches of trees and long drives toward ranches. But it was the mountains that drew his attention. No wonder, on that breezy day off the Brooklyn Bridge, Lindsay had seemed a little put off when he'd compared the view to Montana. He'd thought it was the best sight in the world, that wide view of skyscrapers.

She'd had her own. He couldn't get over the mountains.

Lindsay relayed facts and told him stories as they drove. Two of the three entrances to Yellowstone were located in Montana. Had she'd been? Of course she had. With her dad, with her family. She'd even seen a grizzly bear. He smiled a little, remembering the first day he'd met her.

_I'm sure you've never ever seen anything like that in Montana.  
_

_You've ever seen what a full grown black bear can do to a man?_

No wonder she'd all but hated him that first day.

Lindsay looked over at him, smiled, and he could tell she was thinking of the same thing. He reached over, ran his fingers over her cheek. He was so thankful that they were together now. They'd come a long way to get here. Right here.

He thought of her book on New York City. He could see her, so clearly as a little girl, with her head bowed over the pages, the big book open on the floor in front of her.

It was on the shelf, right there by the front door. He'd passed by it every day at home. When they got back, he wanted to take it out, sit with her and let her show him New York through her eyes. He'd spent so much time trying to show her through his own.

"Hey—" she broke into the quiet. "You'd take that road to head toward Helena."

He frowned. "That's not where we're going? The state capital and all."

"Technically we're not even supposed to be going to the crime lab, but I want to stop for a quick visit, since we'll be driving through Missoula anyway. In and out, that's all." She glanced over at him. "You know I didn't work in Helena."

"I … knew you worked for the state crime lab. Doesn't that count?"

"Yeah, but you don't work in Albany."

"I don't work for the state crime lab."

They passed the sign that pointed to Helena where she'd been sent for her first field case. She had half a dozen stories of dealing with the people there. Danny listened, but he found himself more interested in the look on her face. There was a softness there of remembrance that was different. It wasn't that she was longing for Montana, but she had good memories here. He turned himself to lean against the door, and just watched her as she talked.

The town of Deer Lodge brought his attention back to the road. It was where Montana's most famous prison was located. She had a plethora of stories past to her from her grandfather, who'd been assigned there early in his career as a Federal Marshal. They drove through the center of town, looked at the historic entrance that opened up right onto main street.

Had she visited?

Of course she had. She'd wanted to know everything about the old prison. Every story, every word written on every wall. The cracks and crevices.

Missoula was home of the state crime lab and the University of Montana, where she'd attended school. It was called, she said, _the Harvard of the West_. There were memories there, good ones, from the look on her face. Despite the nearly three hour drive between Bozeman, and the place he was looking forward to seeing—what had been her home base before New York—the time passed by quickly.

They pulled up and parked in front of a fairly new one story building, mountains in the background. The sign out front read "Department of Forensic Science."

"This was built just before I moved to New York."

"So this is where you worked?"

"For a short time. Most of what I did was at the older place," she unbuckled her seat belt. "We really don't have time for this, but there's someone I want you to meet."

"Who?" he couldn't help the suspicious tone in his voice, or the sudden panic in his chest. She'd had boyfriends out here, hadn't she?

She looked over at him, flashed him a grin. "You'll just have to find out."

* * *

_I think this is the most Lindsay background I have ever written. :) ... I hope you enjoyed the trip! I think Lindsay will be back to work in the next chapter. Let's hope. It's taken them four chapters longer to get there that I had originally outlined! But I hope it's been worth the wait._ :) Oh, and you can kind of see a picture of the Montana "Department of Forensic Science Building." Go to google images and type it in. Everything else that comes in the next chapter will be from my own imagination.


	8. Chapter 8: Past, present, future

_I apologize in advance for the long winding road of fluff XD ... ha ha. Montana's just such a big state. It takes awhile. I honestly probably should have left some of it out and tightened it up. But ... why? So ... here's the writer's cut. My cut of this chapter. By the way. standard own nothing disclaimer._

_I will say, I did research the Montana crime lab, and there are a few articles in there ... but aside from the location and a very vague connection to the university ... nothing you find in this story is close to reality or none of it intended to be, or resemble reality. Nothing was written to try and do so. All of this is fiction. Have I made it clear enough :p ?  
_

* * *

Chapter 8:

They walked in and out of the crime lab surprisingly fast despite a handful of introductions and standard security protocol that worked a lot like it did in New York—on a much smaller scale. The lab itself was simpler, though not archaic, more than what he had imagined. It was the state crime lab after all, and the only crime lab for most of the state. Lindsay had done her share—traveled to, analyzed, and later testified in courtrooms from one end to the other.

As Lindsay made her rounds, Danny—complete with his high end security badge—watched someone go through a basic finger print analysis … but much of it was done—as Lindsay would say—the old school way. Lindsay had said something once that sometimes there was\ simple pleasure in getting back to the basics.

There were rooms that looked more like a doctor's office or high school science lab. He recognized the machines. Some had been retired from their lab before his time—but there had been a time when they could afford to cycle out a machine they could replace.

They wouldn't have had access to the multiple DNA machine that Stella had pushed so hard to get.

The man Lindsay had wanted him to meet was her mentor, her former boss, Dr. Donald Fairhorn; the same man who had handled the crime scene at the diner more than a dozen years ago. Lindsay kept in touch with him, talked with him frequently … so it wasn't as if they had a lot of catching up to do.

"I've heard a lot about you," Dr. Fairhorn held out a hand to Danny as Lindsay headed back into the offices.

"Same here."

"When I heard she was coming I was hoping to meet the little one."

Danny reached in his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. "I know she's sent you pictures," he pulled out the two he kept in there of Lucy and handed them over, "she's at her parents. But she told you that."

The doctor grinned as he looked at the photos. "She's got so much of Lindsay in her. Of you, too, of course," he smiled as he handed the photos back. "But I've known Lindsay a long time. I can see her in that child. You've got yourself a live one there."

Danny nodded, hesitated as he put the photos away. He had an urge to thank the man.

Dr. Fairhorn patted Danny on the arm and smiled, for a moment the sadness showed in his eyes. "I was in the courtroom on the days she testified. I saw you come in."

For a moment, Danny looked him in the eye—and wondered if the man was simply a cloned Mac Taylor. Honor bound enough to counsel a devastated teenager, wise enough to seemingly read right into his soul. Then Danny knew—he didn't have to voice his thanks.

And it made him a little uneasy.

Lindsay appeared with a messenger style bag and moments later they were turning in their badges and walking out to the truck. When they stepped outside, she passed him the keys, headed to the passenger side.

"What—you're going to trust me to drive now?"

"What's to trust? You take a left out here and start driving. Eventually—and _eventually_ is a long time—I'll tell you to stop. Meanwhile, I'll do the heavy lifting as I go back through the notes I just got," she opened the door, and pulled herself in, met his eyes across the front seat. "Afraid you can't handle the open Montana road, Messer?"

"Fine, but you need to call Hawkes back. This was your idea."

~n.y.~

Lindsay toed off her shoes and put her feet up on the dashboard as she waited with the phone.

"Dr. Hawkes."

She smiled and reached over and took Danny's hand. "Hey, Hawkes. How's it going?"

"I think you know how it's going."

She toyed a little with Danny's fingers. "Lab's following apart without us?"

"Oh … I think the lab would be fine without the two of you and your schemes. We have one of the largest crime labs in the US and you pick Kale?"

"He's the only one I knew that needed the money … as much as he probably needs the money. He's getting married. He needs all the help he can get."

"Hey—" Danny tried to pull back his hand. She held on.

"Oh—and speaking of _Danny_. He had to traipse across the country with you?"

"You wouldn't have wanted to put a half of a continent in between Lucy and her Daddy, would you Hawkes?"

Danny managed to pull his hand out of hers. "Don't bring me back into this, _Montana._"

"Funny—Danny's voice is coming in loud and clear now. None of the interference he claimed earlier."

"We are in the mountains. Cell reception is in and--"

"Sounds like a _vacation_. You just wait until you get out of the mountains and back to the lab. You both might be back at rookie status."

"Hawkes?" she said sweetly and heard him sigh. "I'm sorry about Kale …"

"Sure you are."

"And whatever we owe you for this chance for us to be out here as a family … for my family to be part of, well … my family, for Lucy to be part of it all, I'll simply owe you for a long time."

"You're not going to make me feel any less indignant with either of you, Lindsay."

"Not even a little bit …" she asked, even as she could tell he was softening.

"Just come home soon."

"Hawkes, your next Fluke from the East River is on me."

"Yeah, yeah. Just get home soon, Monroe."

"What's fluke?" Danny asked when she ended the call.

"A type of flounder." Lindsay pulled out the file and a small tape recorder with ear phones and set them on her lap.

"Wait a minute. Hawks likes Fluke from the East River?"

Lindsay laughed, thinking of the little joke she'd shared with Hawkes when they'd discovered the menu item—Fluke, specifically from the east river—on their menu not long after his near death experience diving under water. Still, a good sport at just about anything—minus Kale—he'd ordered it, much to her delight.

So now, it was their shared meal when they managed to stop long enough to eat more than a hotdog at a stand.

Lindsay shook her head as she plugged in her earphones. "Just drive."

"You're going to use headphones? Why don't I get to hear?"

"You want to hear my notes going up the side of the mountain?"

"Better than sitting hear wondering what you're listening to."

"You haven't heard enough of my voice?"

"I married you, didn't I?"

Even as she rolled her eyes, she unplugged the earphones, opened the folder, and pressed play.

~n.y.~

Danny had no idea what she was talking about. On the recording. Some of it was case related, little thoughts here and there, but mostly she was listing her surroundings, marking her trail, detailing possible physical evidence as someone else took the pictures.

"Wait—"

Lindsay paused the tape. "Wait what?"

"There's someone with you. Why didn't they get called back instead?"

She glanced down at her notes, flipped a few pages. "Because … it was Tom. Tom wasn't from here. He didn't grow up in the mountains. I think he was from San Francisco. Or somewhere. We talked a lot about the theatre. Tom couldn't find his way …" she stopped herself. "Never mind. He was kind of a … well city boy."

"I'm a city boy."

"Then I'll leave you alone on the mountain and let you find your way home."

"_Wiseass_."

"I would think he had similar words for me," she laughed when he shot her a narrow glance. "But you're much more capable in a pair of hiking boots that Tom. Anyway—I don't even know for sure if _I_ can find what they're looking for. There were detailed geological maps left in the files to note where the original graves were found, but its back country. We couldn't leave our markings out there. The evidence had to be collected and completely taken out."

"And there are more graves."

"Yeah. And they're buried under years of nature; rain, animals, natural growth and brush."

"Good ol nature."

He was thinking of the black bears. She simply shook her head. He could chase and take down a guy spit firing a loaded machine gun—of which they'd had words over—but he was worried about bears. He planned a trip to Costa Rica, where jaguars and pumas weren't cars or shoes; where those same animals ran wild, and he was worried about her mountains.

She had made it out alive, and she'd lived there most of her life.

Lindsay turned in the seat, studied him, the way he concentrated on the road, the way his hands gripped the steering wheel. It wasn't his kind of driving. He wanted the shift and move of the city, the stop and go.

The unending road, snaking over land toward sky was unnerving for him.

He was such a character. But hers.

"Thank you, by the way."

"You're welcome, but for what?"

"The boots. Thank you for wearing them. I know you have your own. But my mom got it into her head that it was a way to help. And … no where else is going to be the same as Montana, so even telling her that you had gone hiking, or even that we had gone hiking …." she shrugged helplessly.

He glanced down at the borrowed worn boots. "We should do it again."

"What? Lie to my mother?"

"Ah … _no_. Remember that day we headed out to the Catskills? Explored around up there together. We should take Lucy, do it again," he glanced over, watched her look out the window, the memory playing in her mind. "It's a good place to teach her a little fly fishing."

He was watching, so he saw the flash of surprise and the small smile. She turned her head, grinned. "You don't know how to fly fish."

"You do."

"Is that just a line, Messer?"

"No … they'll always have Montana in them."

"They?"

"Our kids."

"We only have one."

"_Now_."

"Isn't Lucy enough …"

He made a face, knew she hadn't relented on this issue quite yet. She was right in her arguments. They needed to find time to be parents for Lucy, prove themselves to be good parents for Lucy …

"You're going to want more soon …"

She sighed. Dramatically. He was fairly sure she would be ready to give in. Any … year now. Maybe sooner.

"_Anyway_. I thought your next trip to the Catskills was going to be to play paintball."

"You won't play with me."

"You didn't want me on your team."

He risked a glance over at her. "Afraid, Monroe?"

"Oh, I'll take you on, Messer," she said, "but when I play, I'm going to play to win the game, not just be ambushed by my husband."

"_Ambushed_—"

"I saw the look in your eyes," she looked back down at the papers in her lap, and for a few minutes the truck was quiet. He let his mind drift to that day … it seemed so long ago now. They hadn't been together for very long. He'd wanted to take her up there, see what she knew about fishing. He'd had a feeling, since those first few days where she'd pushed away from him, turning cold—as cold as their case—trying to freeze him out.

But she hadn't been able to do it. Not completely. There'd been a light of fire in her eyes when she looked at him, over fly fish bait, that she'd accidentally let him in. Just a little.

He hadn't understood, until much later, after the trial and after they were really together. They'd gone up to the mountains, rented some fly fishing gear.

And she'd told him of fishing with her father.

He grinned a little as he stared forward at the open road. He could see them there now, as a family. Lindsay standing in the stream with Lucy …

And it gave him an ache, to picture is baby as a little girl …

He cleared his throat, pushed at the image. "So we take Lucy?" Lindsay glanced back over at him. "To the Catskills."

She smiled. "I'd like that."

~n.y.~

Lindsay eventually took over the wheel. Danny would play the tape player. She would have him stop as she talked through what she'd just heard herself say.

She took an exit, followed the rough road. Her eyes were pealed for animals, big ones that could not only destroy her father's truck, but leave them stranded. They arrived at the small town of Little Falls within two hours of sunset.

"Guess we're not going up the mountain tonight," Danny said as he got out of the truck, walked around the back to help her unload.

She waved him off. "Let's see who's here first."

She reached for his hand, let his fingers curl around his. Then she stopped, looked up at him with the dying sunlight behind him. "Danny …"

"Hmm …"

"You should talk to my dad about fly fishing. He could give you some pointers."

"I was thinking I'd learn from the best."

"Then he's the one you should talk to," she turned into him, raised her arms to clasp behind his head. "Thank you for thinking of it. For thinking of Lucy."

She caught his lips with hers, drew him into the kiss, felt him slide slowly with her. His hands slowly slid around her back, drawing her in. The warmth between them grew.

Finally Lindsay leaned back just enough to break the kiss, and sighed.

"They allow kissing on the job here in Montana? I might have to rethink my position on living out here."

Lindsay rolled her eyes and slowly let her hands fall. "I'm not on the job."

"Does that mean we can sneak off for a make out session?"

She shook her head and linked her fingers back with his.

"Wait a minute. That's Mike's truck."

She glanced over, saw where he was looking. "Yeah—they volunteer with search and rescue. They'll be going up with us in the morning."

"I guess that means no make out sessions in the mountains."

"Maybe," she told him, but she wasn't going to say no this far in advance.

­­

* * *

I couldn't think of anything that Hawkes had ever eaten for the little joke – but it didn't quite come out of my rear. There has been a running joke on Regis and Kelly involving the Fluke—specifically from the east river, as it was labeled on the menu. It's all I could come up with.

Oh ... and can I just let out a sigh of relief? Eight chapters in and we're finally getting close to the crime scene. Or the destination? lol. This was where I had planned to be in chapter .... 3. XD


	9. Chapter 9: Going Up?

_It's been way too long, I know. And if I didn't respond to your reviews, I'm so sorry!!! I appreciate them all, I really do!! Just for you guys, I sat down and made myself get this ... err... on screen! :p You guys are the best!  
_

_Disclaimer applies. Obviously, this is not the truth and I have no holding over these characters. It's fun to play. As Danny and Lindsay should know, right? After all, when they last left you, they were at a motel, at night ... and Lucy was hours away with Lindsay's parents. What are a couple of newlyweds to do?_

* * *

Chapter 9: _Going up?_

Lindsay shut the truck's door a little hard. It was the most she'd communicated with him since leaving the hotel. Actually, if not saying anything was communicating, than she'd said a whole lot.

Lindsay had driven into the mountains, and negotiated a narrow road. It didn't seem the time to press her then. And now, there were already people gathered around the base of the trail. A table was set up as some kind of command center. Her brothers had somehow beat them there.

Danny grimaced. He walked around the front of the truck and grabbed her hand to stop her. "Are you not going to talk to me, now?"

She glared at him. Those rich brown eyes nearly shot out sparks. He could almost feel the burn.

"Linds—"

"Our first night without Lucy, Danny? And you spend it with my brothers playing poker?"

"What was I supposed to do? They asked me to join them."

"How about tell them _no? _Or that you had your own place to spend the night. Or that you were tired from a long journey and that you're a new father and your baby girl keeps you up at night ...."

"Linds, they're your _brothers_. I Just don't want them to think—"

"What? That you love me enough to spend time with me? Or that you would like to take advantage of the free time you have with me?" She crossed her arms. "Danny, we're _married_. You asked me to marry you, remember? And you let my brothers convince you—easily, I might add—into spending our time, that we don't usually get, away from me. With them."

With that she spun around, but stopped. He watched as she drew in a deep breath, and then another, carefully calming herself down. She would pull it in, he knew. She would do the job.

He would have to find a way to make it up to her later.

He looked ahead, caught the eye of her eldest brother—and saw the laughter in his eyes. Lindsay had been right, they'd known what they were doing.

.ny.

Lindsay tugged on the pack, felt the weight of it, and acknowledged only to herself that it felt heavier than it would have a few years ago. Behind her, Danny was pulling on his own pack. He said nothing, but she knew he watched her.

She sighed. The truth was she was angry, but not as much with him as she was with her brothers. They'd done it on purpose, pulled him into a poker game for their own enjoyment, knowing she was waiting for him. And she knew Danny enough to know he was a little uncomfortable with the idea that they had been holed up next door in the small Montana motel room.

But even if they hadn't done anything, she wanted a night to just lay there in her husbands arms. With no interruptions.

In the silence of the night, she'd wanted him there to help her forget the sickness she'd felt not having Lucy there with her. He'd crashed, instead, next door.

And why hadn't she gone next door and grabbed him by his scruffy head of hair and dragged him to their room? Because she was just as much at fault. She should have stood up for herself.

Instead, she'd let her brothers rue the day again.

She felt Danny come up behind her as she stepped to the base of the trail. She remembered the case, coming out here, following the directions of a man who had confessed to his crimes. He'd told them exactly where the bodies were. She'd gone up to collect the evidence.

Taking the notes she'd made, she scanned them quickly and then gave up. She turned, looked at him. He lifted his eyes, those beautiful blue eyes.

"Danny …" she murmured, unable to say much else. "I don't want to be mad at you."

"I don't want you to be mad at me either—not when you can leave me up there."

"I won't leave you up there—someone has to take their shift with Lucy," she reached out and ran her fingers under his backpack strap. "But I might make you sleep up there with the bears."

"You're so funny."

"I want to show you my Montana."

He leaned forward and pressed his lips to her forehead, lingering just the least bit. She knew it cost him a little to do it so public. They were both in the habit of being private.

She turned around, waved toward the ranger with the walkie talkie she held. "We're heading up."

"Right behind you."

As they headed into the dense forest, Danny grabbed her free hand with his. "Does this mean there is going to be room for make out sessions on this trip."

Her grin flashed. She couldn't help it. "If you can keep up."

"Right here with you," he let go of her hand and snaked it quickly around her waste, drawing her off balance and into his arms as he captured his first kiss of the day.

.ny.

The trail was rough and there were times they didn't say much at all. Sometimes they walked hand-in-hand, side by side, and other times the trail was narrow and they had to follow each other one behind the other. They did talk though, about Lindsay's time with her father in the mountains, about the Poker game—and how Danny handled himself with her brothers, and about a few of the cases they'd left behind in New York.

There were decisions to be made. They'd had little time to share the thoughts of their sitters or on where they thought they were headed with Lucy, with themselves; where they should go out when they had the chance.

And they needed to make that chance a priority.

It was good. It was _really_ good to just talk.

They tied off markers to keep track of where they were going, listened to the commentary on the walkie talkies, and responded back when they were called on to check in. When they stopped, they rested while standing, knowing better than to sit. They would lean over, stretched their muscles.

They reached the mountain top. Danny looked out over the view, thought again that the mountains were Lindsay's own skyscrapers. She stood beside him and pointed toward Yellowstone, in the direction of towns where she'd had cases, and took some time to tell him about what they'd done, what they'd found, and how the cases turned out.

As they started down the trail on the other side, the trail became less noticeable. Lindsay took out her compass and her notes.

"We should be close. There's old cabin back in here that dates back into the 1950s. It was barely habitable back when we caught him, but he'd used it as his base. His … he called them tools." She shook her head.

"What exactly are we looking for?"

"The original burial site. He told the DA that there were other bodies up here that he hadn't originally told us about. He couldn't remember exactly where, but they were near the original spot."

"You don't believe him."

"Oh, he knows exactly where everything is. You should have seen it back them. Everything was so methodical. The planning—to get someone up here. Pretending to be a girl on a social networking site. Luring them with this and that. Killing exactly at midnight, on nights with no moon. All the markings, all the cuts, it was all so precise."

Lindsay found the site. It surprised him only because she had been the one to worry that she couldn't find it. He couldn't tell the difference between the foliage on the ground where the crime site had been and where it hadn't, but she remembered. She told him, laying it out for him methodically. As she talked, she stepped through it, pointed how everything had been laid out in burial, slowly turning … and then she stopped.

He didn't like the look in her eyes as she stood there.

"Linds?"

"Danny—something's wrong."

"What?"

"This guys been in prison for more than six years," she turned, walked to the other side of the area and turned back toward him. "Someone's been here. Recently."

"A hiker?"

"Maybe," she chewed her bottom lip, looked over the area one more time. He walked toward her, watched her. "But why here?"

Danny looked around. He didn't know what he was looking for, or what he needed to do to help her.

And then he felt his blood turn cold. "Linds… how many bodies are we looking for?"

"He said two," she turned, looked at him, then followed his gaze. He heard her intake of breath.

"Maybe someone's been around here…" Danny started, then looked at Lindsay.

She met his gaze, the worry there in her eyes as she looked away from him, and slowly turned, taking in the wilderness, the trees ... the darkness under the canapy.

"Because the killing never stopped."

Danny ran his hand over the place where his gun usually rested. He didn't have it. He didn't have anything.

And he was acutely aware that they were alone. "Whoever did this—"

"Is out here, somewhere."

* * *

_Dun dun dun. :p If anyone blames me for this ending... :) I just would like to say that this wasn't in the original outline. It's Lilymoonlight's fault and I love her dearly for it. I hope she didn't rub off on me too much, though. But then, we just recently finished a dark story together ... so Danny and Lindsay may not make it down the mountain. I wonder ... But ... well, you'll just have to wait and see... :p Do you have any guess what they've just seen?  
_

_I must need sleep desperately. XD LOL You might think and feel the need to say, Web, you have lost your mind. It's just that point of the semester where I've graded way too many papers and the steam's just pouring off.  
_

_OH! I almost forgot. As for the openning to this chapter, well, it had to happen because of what I had planned for later. Oh ... well, the later won't happen if they don't make it down the mountain ... oops. Well, we'll just have to wait and see. Bwa ha ha ha. :p  
_


	10. Chapter 10: Details

It's been a long time, I know. I have to thank **rhymenocerous **who reviewed recently and forced me back into thinking about it. You see, I got them up the mountain and into it, but I didn't know exactly how to get them out of it ... well. Then, I just lost the inspiration :p. Excuses aside, if you've come back to check it out, thanks for holding on. :)

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Lindsay pulled out her radio, "This is Monroe, Lindsay. We have a situation. We need you guys to pick it up, get here now."

She looked at Danny, found him alert, watching behind her, around them. He was tense, and he had every right to be.

She looked back. The bodies were decapitated, the heads–some still in decomp, painted with smiley faces. That was new, and different, but the rest?

Similar, too similar to mean that they arrested the right person in the first place.

"He had a sister," she looked at Danny. "When we were at trial, he said he was fighting to save his sister. When he took the deal, he wanted to make sure his sister was taken care of."

She hadn't thought in detail about this case in a long time. There had been times, like when they had first dealt with Shane Casey, that she'd thought about it. And the case with the swords. Both cases brought her back to the headless bodies and the mind of a man who'd loved his sister in the middle of what she'd figured with insanity. But the details weren't so fresh in her mind as they had been.

Still, she'd picked a few things up from the case file she'd looked through.

"So you're thinking the sister picked up where the brother left off?"

She shook her head. "I'm thinking it was the sister all along." She lifted the radio again. Spouted off a few requests. Find the sister, and the social worker who was assigned to her case.

Across from her, Danny tensed.

"What?"

"Did you hear that?" He looked around, turned slowly. The trees that surrounded them loomed large above.

"No–what is it?"

He shrugged, reaching again for the weapon that wasn't there. "A voice. The sister," she saw the worry in his eyes when he looked at her. "She's here."

Then Lindsay heard the rustle, opposite the direction they'd come. She reached for her weapon as well, and held only her radio unit.

_A knife_, Lindsay thought. It was always a knife which he, _or rather she, _brought with her to kill.

* * *

**_Hmmm... this seems like a good place to leave off. Think I should continue?_**

**_Mwa ha ha. I must be in some weird and evil mood today! That's two cliff hangers in one day.  
_**


	11. Chapter 11: Questions from the Past

_Thanks for the reviews and for the favorites and all of the above._

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Chapter 11:

_Meanwhile, back in New York... _

As Stella made her way through the crime lab, she rolled her shoulders back and stretched the muscles of her neck. A trip home for a quick power nap hadn't quite gotten her back to full speed. She didn't have time to stop. Borrowing someone from another team didn't really make up for the smooth move and groove that came from one of your own. Being down two of their own simply meant that they were all busy.

But then, they were always busy, it was always fast paced, and it would be so even with Danny and Lindsay on board.

So she wasn't surprised to see Hawkes still at his desk when she stepped into his office. He'd worked most of the previous day, and then took the night shift. Wordlessly, she picked up the file she'd come for.

"Headed out?" she asked, since his shift had been over for nearly 30 minutes.

"Yeah," he said, not taking his eyes off the screen.

She looked, surprised to see the pictures of snow capped mountains taking up his screen. "What are you doing?"

"What?" distracted, he glanced back at her, his eyes a little wild from fatigue.

"Hawkes," Stella walked around the desk and flipped the screen off. "Why are you still here looking at—"

"Montana," he said flatly. "And not Danny's Montana. There is no way they're working there. No buildings, no trash to dig through lining the city streets. Its like one big, gigantic central park vacation. I like working the Central Park crime scenes."

"With mountains," Stella reminded him, trying to hold back the smile. "They're big, and it would be murder to track up them with a kit. Plus, think of the kind of shoes you'd have to wear."

"And that is called hiking. Hiking is what people do to relax and have fun. Hiking is not what people do when they're working," when she lifted a brow, he shrugged. "Just saying."

With a laugh, Stella walked over and took his coat from the hook. "You need to go home," she didn't try to hide the laughter in her voice. "Turning your hatred of Kale into a hatred of the state of Montana isn't going to bring them back any sooner. And that—" she said as she handed him his coat, "is the only thing that's going to send him back to his team."

"No—but having those pictures in my head when I implement Operation payback for Kale duty, I won't back off or feel sorry for them," he pointed at the now blank screen, "as far as I'm concerned, they left me here with him and went on vacation."

"Which they haven't had yet together as a family."

Hawkes shot her a look. "Don't side with them. You haven't had to work with Kale either, now that I think about it."

"I tell you what," she slid an arm around him as they walked out the door together. "Tomorrow we'll move things around. I'll be on Kale duty for a little while."

"You—" whatever he had been about to say cut off as he simply relaxed into an almost goofy state of relief. "That's much better."

"Go get some sleep, Hawkes. Danny and Lindsay will be home soon."

.ny.

_Back in Montana..._

Danny tensed for a fight, and took a step to the right, putting himself between the rustling and Lindsay. It was opposite from the way they came. He felt out of sorts and out of wack. Who needed the sun and the shadows to tell your position when you had familair buildings, street signs and landmarks. _That _was civilization.

_This? _This was _crazy_.

Still, the direction of the rustling was opposite from the trail leading up. That much he knew.

Then the limbs moved out of the way and out stepped her brothers.

"What?" he muttered, as the fight drained out of him.

Behind them they were followed by Dr. Fairhorn, then more workers.

Mike took one look at Danny. "Surprised to see us?" he asked dryly.

"Take a look—" Lindsay motioned to the hanging, headless bodies with her eyes. The others looked, Mike looked down.

"And what were you going to do with that?"

Danny turned, saw Lindsay with her buck knife clenched in her hand.

"Its better than my hands."

"Better would be to take off in the other direction."

"Down the side of a mountain?" Lindsay asked, her grip shifting on the handle.

"Someone's going to come at you who may have done all this crazy stuff and you think you can defend yourself with that knife? You'd be disarmed in a few seconds."

"I'd like to see you try."

Danny held out a hand, but it wasn't necessarily to protect his wife.

"Mike—I hate to step in, but I have to do it," it was Jeff who had stepped out, interrupting the exchange. "You remember what happened last time."

He spared a glance—none to friendly—at Lindsay. "It was a cheap shot. I've been practicing."

"Don't forget she knows your weaknesses, just because she's small she's a scrapper."

Lindsay rolled her eyes at Jeff, but closed the blade of her buck knife. "I'm not that small."

Jeff held up his hands. "Not to me, no. It's Mike's mind I'm getting into. You ah—want to explain that?"

Lindsay followed the line of his gaze, then looked toward Dr. Fairhorn. "He had a sister who was under some sort of medication."

Her mentor nodded, the look between them long and sad. There was guilt there, Danny knew, because they had missed something in their analysis.

Danny put out a hand to Lindsay's arm, partly to break the spell, partly because he was the one with questions. "I want to know why they came up from that direction."

She followed his finger to where he was pointing.

"That's the path to the house, where they lived."

"The brother and sister."

"Yeah."

"But if they knew how to find the house... Dr. Fairhorn, all these people. If _they_ knew, why are _we_ here."

"They didn't, couldn't find the access road. We didn't know it was there until a while into clearing up the crime scene here. We knew there had to be a way to access this area that was easier than our trip up. That was the way I came—" she pointed toward the trail they had walked. "But we marked the off shoot path that turned toward the house when we passed it. Remember?"

Danny simply stared at her. "We left a lot of markers."

She grinned. "Well, one of them was marking the side trail, and they took that path since we'd already taken ours. And you just proved, Messer, that you do tune me out."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he stepped toward her, reached for her. He knew how to side track things. It wasn't just about invading her personal space. That—which had been almost essential to do from the beginning—just made things feel right, made it easier to think when he was around her. He didn't want her to be able to think any easier.

She held up a hand, stepped back.

"Besides, Dr. Fairhorn's one of the best trackers in the state. He would have picked up on the signs around him."

"Which still doesn't explain why we're in Montana."

"Because ... _I_ was unofficially primary up here on the case. Donald had broken his leg," she looked over, watched as he came over toward them. "He couldn't come up. He didn't know where it was."

Dr. Fairhorn nodded. "We did try to find the paths up into this area for several weeks before we contacted Lindsay to come back. But we were looking for the wrong things. The sister..."

"Isn't she supposed to be in a secured home?"

"I don't know. I honestly didn't keep track. We don't have bloggers and reporters running around back checking all of our work," he looked at Danny. "But then the ADA was keeping up with it. He'd made a promise to the brother, that he would make sure she was taken care of."

"Jefferson usually keeps his promises."

"A man's word is his strength," Fairhorn murmured. "I called it in—they're looking for the social worker now. Apparently, she's missing. She ..."

The color drained from his face. He turned, slowly, and looked toward the crime scene, toward the hanging corpses and the dismembered heads beneath.

Danny watched as he started over, a tremble in his step. Danny looked at Lindsay.

"She's one of the bodies, isn't she?"

"I don't know. I don't know her," she said, her lips tight. "But yeah. It makes sense. Their parents—the brother and sister—died when they were young. He had this overbearing sense of responsibility toward her. I thought—_we_ thought—that it was the motive for the murders. Her boyfriends. Her teacher."

"But it was her."

Lindsay shook her head. "I ..." she looked at Dr. Fairhorn. "I can't say that it was never him, but now ..."

"At some point you suggested the sister."

She looked at Danny, nodded. "But I was young, new to the job, and I was trying to establish my place on the team. I didn't push it. And to be honest, this isn't what you would expect from a young female. All the arguments are against it. Everything, every piece of evidence was against it, and we did flesh it out. She would have had to get them here, somehow. None of them got here alive, except for the first. She would have had to lift them, into the trees—that could be explained with the reduced force created by the ..."

And she simply stopped. Her mind was working overtime, over the mistakes, over the facts. Danny reached out, ran a hand over the back of her neck, gently massaged, and waited her out.

"You know one thing about Mac ... he's never not listened, never turned down an idea. He's let me _show_ him," she smiled a little. "And maybe I push a little hard to show him. He's pushed for more, he's expected more, and aside from that one time with Stella... _one_ time, it hasn't happened, not even with her. Not in New York. I forgot ..." she swallowed and looked up at him. "I forgot how hard it was to work out here, with my past, under a man who'd watched me grow up."

"So you came to New York."

She smiled a little. He drew her to his side and she came willingly, her eyes looking past the handful of workers to Dr. Fairhorn and her brothers. Her former mentor knelt over one of the decapitated heads, a study of sadness and work. He would do his job. He was good at his job. Long before Mac Taylor he _had_ taught her how to search for the truth, how to ask questions and how to believe in the science.

And yet, it was her brother's he worked with now. They had a relationship with him too. They had always looked out for her.

"They worked search and rescue together before I could join up. Look how well they work together. This isn't our crime scene. I've done the job I was supposed to do."

"Ready to head back?"

She looked up at him, those brown eyes showing more than her gratitude. "Yeah. Lets go find Lucy."

They said their goodbyes, and headed down what Danny thought of as the back way. He didn't know half of what Lindsay said to Doc Fairhorn, but it amounted to a quicker trip back.

"How long do you think your brothers will be up here with the doc?"

Lindsay smiled. "Long enough, probably, for us to get out of the state of Montana. The nightmare for them is going to be staying here, keeping the crime scene secure until they get the bodies out of here."

"Just as long as we're not invited to spend the night up there."

"As fun as that might be ..." Lindsay stopped and looked up at him. "Actually, it sounds like one of the movies you like so much. Maybe I should go volunteer our services ..."

She actually started to head back up the mountain. Danny reached out, in slight panic, and grabbed her hand. When she looked back, he shook his head. "No–no way. Not even funny."

She turned back, stepped in to him, those impish dimples evidence of her thoughts. "You sure about that? You don't want a night out under the stars with me?"

"What stars? Those trees are in the way."

"Oh, you'll see stars," she slid her hands up and around his neck. "I guarantee it."

He took a step back. _Had he almost just given in?_ He shook himself, refused to be side tracked lest she trick him and lead him back up the mountain. "And dead bodies. _Headless_ dead bodies."

Lindsay laughed, "Does kind of take the romance out of it."

"No kidding—"

The moment flashed—hot to cold. And there was the sister. A ghost against the darkness of trees. Her dress darkened with old blood.

A knife, in her hand, stained with her work.

_Trespassers._

The word was whispered into the wind.

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By the way, thanks to Lilymoonlight _again_ who mentioned the buck knife. I hadn't even thought of that, but as soon as I read her review, I had the image of Lindsay with it in her hand when her brothers appeared in the clearing. So thanks. And thanks for the reviews from everyone. I not only love reading them, but they really help me to think through the story, and inspire me to keep it going!


	12. Chapter 12: Oh the Irony

**Sorry about the delay. Real life has really been a little overpowering. But you're lucky-if you like this story-because I was very close to closing up shop last night. :p If its only the fan fiction that keeps you going ... if not for my D/L support group ... lol ... anyway, I didn't :p. I picked up this story and added to it instead. This, by the way, is the infamous chapter I had to work through my head over the long, long hiatus of this story. So ... **

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**Oh the Irony...**

Chapter 12:

In the darkness he heard voices, the chaos of movement. It hurt. His head was really starting to hurt.

_Lindsay_... he reached out and found nothing there.

.ny.

_Meanwhile, back in New York_ ...

Hawkes was whistling as he headed into work. He'd had a good night's sleep, had awoken refreshed and happy for the first time in days. It was going to be such a great day. Stella had promised to take Kale. It was all a guy could ask for ... so he couldn't help but smile.

As he stepped off the elevator, he felt like he was flying. It was good to be back at work with the scales balanced. Soon Danny and Lindsay would be back, and life would be good.

"Hey, Hawkes—"

He turned and smiled at Adam. "It's a good morning, isn't it?"

"Ah—" Adam stared at him and tapped the file folder he held against the palm of his hand. "Sure?"

"And why shouldn't it be?" he turned, looked around the lab.

"It shouldn't—and I got back some analysis in the case you were working on yesterday," he passed the folder over to Hawkes. "DNA results came back on a male relationship. He had a cousin."

Adam nodded as Mac came over. "Did the supenea come through?"

"Yes—" he told Mac "Turns out that both men were left sizable chunks of inheritance from their grandparents estate, but they had to agree on what to do with the house and a large car collection to get any of it."

Hawkes simply shook his head. "Who needs a car collection in New York?"

"The grandparents estate was partially in Beverly Hills. They had some money in early film or something."

"Do we have a location on the cousin?" Mac asked.

"Got an address right here for a girlfriend in New York."

"Good. Hawkes, grab Kale—and head down to talk to the girl friend."

"Kale?" Hawkes blanched. "Stella said—"

"Stella's been with a dead body in Central part since five am."

"Central Park," Hawkes nearly growled. "And she didn't take Kale with her?"

Mac only lifted a brow. "Problem?"

_Oh, there was a problem_, but Hawkes knew better than to bring it up with Mac. Unless ... could it be that there was laughter in Mac's eyes? Was the man doing this on purpose?

But Stella had _promised_.

.ny.

His head really hurt. Danny moaned and reached up to rub his head.

"Danny?"

At Lindsay's voice, he blinked against the light and turned toward the sound. She leaned over him, her hand wrapped around his. Behind her were dull white walls, walls that looked the same no matter where you went.

"Hospital?" the word croaked out.

"Yeah—" she ran her fingers gently along the side of his face. "You're okay. A little battered and bruised, with a mighty concussion that knocked you out for awhile."

"Just my luck," he tried to smile, but winced a little. "What happened?"

"What do you remember?"

"Ah ... we're in Montana," the scenery moved through his mind, the rolling mountains and the long road. The trees and the hike. The brothers and ... the bodies. "We found a bunch of headless corpses ontop of the mountain. Then ... crazy girl went after you with a knife..."

Then it went blank.

"That's a pretty good memory," Lindsay replied, but there was laughter in her voice. "The rest of the story is what I'm going to remember."

"I don't like the tone of your voice, Mrs. Messer."

At that, she laughed. For Danny, the pain faded a bit. This was all he wanted in life. His wife, and his baby girl. "Where's Lucy?"

"With my parents, still. They took you to the nearest clinic. You've been in and out a little, but the doctor wasn't worried, so I told mom and dad to stay put. We'll make the drive in a little while."

"What happened?"

"Well, as you said ... crazy girl appeared out of the woods."

He could see her, the bloody dress—_dress of all things_—and the large knife she wielded. Her eyes had been wide with delusion and panic. He'd seen doped up druggies just as crazed.

"Then what?"

"You went after her ..." she shrugged, but she was laughing at him—that much was obvious. "Took her out. My hero."

Lindsay grinned and kissed the back side of his hand. It might have been romantic save the cheeky grin.

"_What?_"

"I'll never forget it, not for the rest of my life," she laughed, and there were sparkles of tears in her eyes. "You ... just tumbled, and fell into her. The two of you rolled down the mountain. Scared the life out of me."

And he felt the tumble in the bruises on his battered body. "Sounds like a laughing matter."

"Well at the time ..." she left go of his hand to wipe away the tears. "When I got down there, you looked at me and asked if _I_ was okay. Then you were out. Crazy girl was moaning. You're really lucky the knife was lost along the way. If she'd cut you ... lets just say the knife was ... very well used, not well taken care of."

He grimaced at the thought. "So ... how did I make it down?"

She bit her bottom lip—that tiny look that made him weak. It was very much a look of his _Montana_. "Do you really want to know?"

But he did. He already knew. Her brother's would have carried him down.

And it was a story that they would probably carry with them for the rest of his life.

"Remind me to give a nightly version of my heroic moments to Lucy."

Lindsay grabbed onto his hand and held it against her cheek. "You're already her hero, Danny. And mine."

"I'd believe you a little more if you'd lose that grin, _Montana_."

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**So ... this is how I got them down the mountain. I know it was told backwards, a little, but ... it really is what held me up for over a year! :p But I guess the bright side of it is that Danny was knocked out long enough for it to be the next day in New York. Good thing for fiction, right? Now to channel a little of my imagination into the writers in California... do do do...**


	13. Epilogue: A New Perspective

**And here we have the last section. Its been a long time in coming, and I'm sure I had much grander plans than this, but the basic concept and happenings are still there. Here's wishing for a much better second half of the season than the last six episodes, but ...**

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**

A New Perspective

Chapter 13:

"She knows something," Kale said as he followed Hawkes out of the apartment building.

Hawkes looked up at the apartment above them. "Oh, she knows something alright. Maybe we should stick around, just kind of make sure she's safe."

Kale frowned. "I don't think its her safety we should be worried about."

"I wasn't saying that," Hawkes murdered and sighed. Maybe he should have used air quotes to help Kale out with the meaning. "I was just—you know what? Never mind. We should get back to the lab anyway."

"So we're just leaving her here?"

"We can't just stand around here all day and wait for something to happen, someone to come by. And she doesn't have to leave through the front door. Not in this place."

"Like the fire escape?"

"Sure," Hawkes shook his head as he stepped to the cross walk, waited for it to turn green and let him cross. "The fire escape or the back window. Its not like this place has a high security advantage. How is it that you have a fiancé, man?"

"She likes—"

At that moment, as Hawkes started across the street, Kale grabbed at him, spun with his weight, and toppled them down to the cement below, just as a car sped past.

"What?" Hawkes shook his head, and hated—absolutely hated—the feeling he had in his gut. "Get off me."

"Sure," Kale rolled off, then stood up with his bumbling grace, and held out a hand to Hawkes.

Hawkes took it, then looked down the road where the car had gone. "What just happened?"

"Looked like we were about to get splattered."

_Not we_, Hawkes realized, but _him_. Kale had saved his life.

He looked back at the CSI, the gangly lab tech who'd gone after the detective's badge. He was like Adam, with a gun at his waist. It was scarey, so scarey really. He didn't have words for it.

And yet, even as Kale plugged in the ear pieces to his ipod, to once more tune the world out, Hawkes had to admit he was grateful. He _had_ to be grateful.

_Kale _had saved his life.

Of all people to owe, of all people to feel grudging respect for ...

Stella was going to owe him something big now. She had promised. And Danny. And Lindsay. _Especially Danny and Lindsay._

He might even extract something from Lucy.

.ny.

Back at the ranch.

The drive back to Lindsay's home had been long. Danny sat in the passenger seat and watched the scenery pass by. There were no quick stops, there was no body Lindsay thought he should meet. She didn't have notes to go over, or things to figure out.

Back in New York, he might have taken time to process the case, but coming in the middle like this, he found he just didn't have it in him.

No ... not when he was alone with Montana, alone and married.

With no where to go but home.

He smiled a little, thought about Lindsay's old boss. Dr. Fairhorn had pulled him aside, shook his hand.

"Its good to finally meet you, Danny."

Danny had nodded and looked the man in they eye. Whatever the man's faults, they all had them. What mattered was he'd been someone who'd helped Lindsay in her darkest hours, who'd shaped her, and in the end he'd been the one who'd set her on the path to New York.

"Things move a bit slower out here in Montana. It might take a few days to push through the paperwork, get you guys home." He'd looked toward Lindsay, where she sat at the small table in the clinic's office, filling out paperwork on the case. She reached up, rubbed her temple. She'd have a headache, Danny knew, from working through the details she'd know—and bypassed—years ago.

"Might give you some time to ... take some time. Be a family."

Danny looked back, smiled a little at the man, and gave his hand a final shake. "Thank you, sir."

"Take care of her."

"I will."

So once they arrived back at the ranch, they did take some time to be a family. It was nice to just be together with Lucy. It was nice to just laugh, and joke, to have someone there to take photographs and to take the time to simply look at each other.

He wasn't sure he had taken time to appreciate his girls, not like this, and not in a long time. Maybe on those first few days at the hospital, with Lucy so young and new to the world. He had taken some days as a father to simply enjoy them both. He would have to do that more often.

But first, he would take time to enjoy his wife, having his wife.

Lindsay's father had handed him a set of keys to the old house her grandfather had built. He didn't say what to do with them, and Danny was glad that conversation didn't happen, but he was able to put it together when he was told Lucy would be fine one more day with her grand parents.

So for the first time in his life, Danny just let things happen. There was nothing to worry about, and no where to go.

Except to a little cabin, out on a far flung field in Montana.

New York could wait.

Lindsay had been right, all those years ago. He'd thought he'd found everything he could find in New York. He'd believed nothing could be important outside of the city streets. He hadn't believed that somewhere else would and could be brighter, warmer, nicer than the place he'd always known as home.

He hadn't understood that even then, he'd been searching for home. It was in the city, it wasn't in a state. It wasn't east or west or in skylines or wheatfileds. It was with his family, with _her_. He hadn't known, back when he'd looked over that impressive skyline of New York just to goad her, to poke at her, maybe to even impress her; he hadn't known how much more was out there.

Not until now.

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**_And with that ... you'll have to use your imagination! LOL Let me know what you thought. Hope the last chapter was worth the last two years of waiting ;p_**


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